PEARLS 



THEIR OCCURRENCE 



IN THE 



UNITED STATES 



ETC . 



BY 



GEORGE FREDERICK KUNZ M. A. 



OFF1C1ER D ACADEM1E 

MEMBRE HON. COR. DE LA CHAMBRE SYNDICALE DES NEGOC1ANTS 

EN D1AMANTS, PERLES ET PIERRES PREC1EUSES, ETC. 






WASHINGTON 



1900 



U. S COMMISSION OF FISH AND FISHERIES, 
GEORGE M. BOWERS, Commissioner. 



THE 



FRESH-WATER PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES 



OF 



THE UNITED STATES. 



BY 



GEORGE E. KUNZ. 



Extracted from U. S. Pish Commission Bulletin for 1897. Article 9, Pages 373 to 426. Plates I to XXII. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1898. 



PLATE I. 





A Hoert&Co.Utli.BiJHnte 



SHELLS OF FRESH-WATER MUSSEL (Unio crassidens). 
Mississippi River. 



ESH-WATER PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 



By GEORGE P. KUNZ. 



THE ORIGIN, NATURE, AND VALUE OF PEARLS. 

Pearls are lustrous concretions, consisting essentially of carbonate of lime, inter- 
stratified with animal membrane, found in the shells of certain mollusks. They are 
believed to be the result of an abnormal secretory process caused by an irritation of 
the mantle of the niollusk, consequent on accident, disease, or the intrusion into the 
shell of some foreign body, as a grain of sand, an egg of the mollusk itself, or perhaps 
some cercarian parasite. It has also been suggested that an excess of carbonate of 
lime in the water may cause the development of pearls. Accepting the former theory 
as the more probable, it is easy to understand how some foreign body, which the 
mollusk is unable to expel, becomes encysted or covered as by a capsule, and gradually 
thickens, assuming various forms — round, elongated, mallet-shaped, sometimes as 
regular as though turned in a lathe. Mr. Charles L. Tiffany, who has given consider- 
able attention to this subject, suggests that the mollusk continually revolves the 
inclosed particle in its efforts to rid itself of the irritation, or possibly that its formation 
is due to a natural motion, which is accelerated by the intruding body. 

In regard to the formation of pearls, the following general statements may be 
made: Whatever may be the cause or the process of their production, these interior 
concretions may occur in almost any molluscan shells, though they are chiefly confined 
to certain groups, and their color and luster depend upon those of the shell interior 
adjacent to which they are formed. Thus the pink couch of the West Indies yields 
the beautiful rose-colored pearls, while those of the common oyster aud clam are dead 
white or dark purple, according to their proximity to the part of the mantle which 
secretes the white or the dark portion of the shell. The true pearly or nacreous 
iridescent interior belongs to only a few families of mollusks, and in these alone can 
pearls proper be formed at all, while in point of fact they are actually obtained only 
from a very few genera. 

The families with iridescent interior layers are the following : Among cephalopods, 
the nautilus and the ammonites, the latter wholly fossil. In both these groups the 
removal of the outer layers of the shell reveals the splendid pearly surface beneath. 
Modern nautilus shells are often "cleaned" with dilute acid to fit them for use as 
ornaments; and frequently this is done partially, elaborate patterns being formed by 
leaving parts of the white middle layers to contrast with the pearly ground. Among 
the fossil ammonites the same effect is produced very often naturally by decay of the 
outer layers, and no artificial pearl work can compare with the richness of color — 
literally "rainbow-hued" — that is presented by many of these fossils from Jurassic 

37f. 



376 BULLETIN OF THF. UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

iiud Cretaceous deposits. Among the gasteropods tlie pearly groups are the turbos 
and haliotes or abalones, in both of which, but especially in the latter, there is a fre- 
quent occurrence of green iridescence. Shells of both these families are "cleaned" with 
acids for use as ornaments, and the exquisite green Haliotis material is extensively 
used in the arts under the name of abaloue. 

The pearls of commerce, however, are almost wholly obtained from bivalve (laruel 
libranch) shells, of which the following families have a nacreous lining: Aviculidce, 
Mytilida, and Unionidce, the last being a fresh-water group, also known as the 
Xaiadcs. A few genera of other families are also brilliantly pearly, but need not be 
here discussed. The true pearl oyster (Meleagrina) found in the Pacific and Indian 
oceans belongs to the first of these families, and has from time immemorial yielded 
the bulk of commercial pearls, while its large and thick shell furnishes the mother of- 
pearl for countless ornamental purposes. The Naiades are of particular interest in 
this country, as it is in North America that this group is most abundant. Several 
hundred species of Unio, Anodon, etc., have been found in our great rivers and lakes, 
and the Mississippi basin teems with them, in forms, for the most part, quite distinct 
from those of the Atlantic watershed and of the Old World. The Unios, while all 
iridescent, vary greatly in tint, exhibiting many delicate shades of pink, brown, 
purple, etc., as well as white. The rivers of Europe, of Mesopotamia, and of China 
also yield large numbers of Unios, while other allied genera (Hyria and Caslalia) 
represent the family in the Amazon basin of South America. 

In the fresh-water species the two valves are alike in size and shape, while in 
sonic of the marine families they differ, as is well seen in the common oyster. Each 
of the valves consists of two parts, the epidermis and the shell proper, the latter 
composed of numerous layers. The epidermis, which resembles horn, consists 
chiefly of a brown or yellow substance called "conchioline," soluble in caustic alkalies; 
beneath this is the outer portion of the shell proper, the prism stratum, consisting 
of layers formed of minute prisms arranged vertically to the layers and the shell 
surface; and, third, the interior nacre layer, composed of finely folded leaves parallel 
to the shell surface. The last two strata consist chiefly of carbonate of lime. These 
formations may be seen in transverse cuttings and microscopic sections. The soft 
internal parts of these niollusks are covered by a thin, delicate membrane called the 
mantle, from the surface and particularly from the outer edges of which material is 
excreted to form the inner layers of the shell. Whenever, by accidental injury, 
disease, or intrusion of foreign substances, local irritation is set up in these tissues, 
the effect is to produce an increased secretion of the nacreous matter at this point, 
resulting in the formation of pearls or pearly concretions. 

Pearls are of several distinct kinds, differing in shape and perhaps, as elsewhere 
suggested, in origin. These are (first) what are known as '-free" pearls — those that 
are found loose and separate between the folds or layers of the mantle and gills, or 
between the latter and the body of the mollusk. These comprise most of the true 
spherical pearls, as also many that are ovate, pear-shaped, and irregular. Then there 
are the pearls found between the mantle and the valves of the shell; these, if free 
at all, are apt to be hemispherical, or in any case flattened on the side toward the 
shell, while very often they are attached more or less to the valve by a deposit of the 
pearly secretion. In the region of the hinge these become extremely irregular in 
shape and often greatly elongated, forming a third kind, known as hinge pearls, 
baroques, etc. 



Bull. U S. F. C. 1897. (To face page 377.) 



Plate II. 



\ 




FRESH rtATER MUSSEL Margaritana margaritifera, SHOWING PEARL INCLUDED BETWEEN MANTLE AND SHELL, 

IN THE LOWER RIGHT. HAND CORNER 

Specimen prepared by V. Fnc of Prague From Botova River, Bohemia 



PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 377 

As many as a hundred small pearls have been found in a single shell, hut as a 
rule these have little or no value. Very curious nacreous groups made of many small 
pieces are at times found attached to the hinge, but these are generally without 
sufficient luster to be of value, and are rarely collected. These groups are caused 
by the conglomeration of many small pearls cemented by a deposit of nacre, and are 
often half an inch across. 

The same causes aud operations that result in the production of pearls also 
produce in a modified way the tuberculosa or knob-like protuberances and irregularities 
of surface that are frequently seen on the pearly inner faces of the valves and pro- 
jecting therefrom. The flatter or less pronounced form of these nacreous excrescences 
are often called "blister pearls," because of their resemblance to vesicular eruptions 
or to water-blisters caused by burns. 

When the growth of the pearl is abnormally strong, the pressure which it exerts on 
the outer wall of this tissue pocket becomes so powerful that the pocket is absorbed 
on the side toward the shell, bringing the hard pearl directly against the latter. It 
then becomes impossible for the pearl to grow any more at the point of contact, for 
there is no tissue to secrete the lime substance: but it grows on the rest of the surface, 
and the thickening layers, as they are formed, pass directly into the nacre layers on 
the inside of the shell and thicken the shell itself. Through these overlayers the 
pearl is connected with the shell as though by different layers of covering cloths. At 
first it clings to the shell at one point only, afterwards enlarging the area of its adhe- 
sion. In this manner twin or united pearls are formed. 

All these varied kinds are found in the marine pearl oysters as well; but the 
fresh-water mollusks have the additional beauty of great variety of tints aud of 
partial transparency in their nacre. In color the Unio pearls present an extended 
series of shades from dead opaque white, having but little value, through various 
tints of pink, yellow, and salmon, or a faint purple, passing to a bright red so closely 
resembling a drop of molten copper as almost to deceive the eye. Some are very light 
green and brown, others rose color, and still others are pale steel-blue, russet, and 
purplish-brown. In addition to their color and luster, they are beautifully iridescent. 
The white and the pink pearls are exceedingly handsome, and the finest, owing to 
their delicate sheen or layers, are at times more lustrous than even the best oriental 
pearls. This luster is increased by their greater transparency, and a really fine white, 
pink, yellow, or iridescent pearl is often quite translucent. They are found also in 
many odd and remarkable shapes. 

Elongated fish-like forms found near the hinge of the shell and called hinge 
baroque pearls are abundant. Others, with a slight addition of gold and enamel, 
may be made to represent human and animal heads, bat and bird wings, and similar 
objects. Mallet-shaped pearls are found with fine color and luster at each end, though 
generally with opaque sides; also, grouped or bunched masses of the pearly nacre, 
made up of from one to over one hundred distinct pearls in fanciful shapes, are of 
occasional occurrence. Feather-like forms with curiously raised points and an odd 
rounded variety with raised pitted markings are quite abundant. A pearl was 
mouHted in this couutry that strikingly resembled the bust of Michael Angelo; and 
a number of unique designs have been made of baroques, similar to those mounted 
by Dinglinger aud exhibited in the Green Vaults at Dresden. Although the pearls 
used here have not been as large as those shown in Dresden, greater taste has been 
employed in mounting them. The variety of the Unio forms being so great, an artist 



378 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

has a wide Held for imagination. The pearls, however, have but slight value uuless 
they are beautiful and lustrous. 

Frequently pearls have an opaque appearance and seem to be worthless, but on the 
removal of their outer layer are found to be clear and iridescent. This outer layer 
may be removed by dipping them in a weak solution of acid, which dissolves the 
opaque coal ingj or it may be peeled with a knife, although sometimes the pearl is not of 
the same material throughout and can not be restored. The story is told of a New 
York lady who purchased a button shaped Unio pearl that had a black, diseased 
appearauce on one side. It was so set that the imperfection was all below the mount- 
ing. When applauding at the opera one evening the pearl was broken, and on 
examination it was found to consist of a very thin nacreous layer, inside of which was 
nothing but a hard, while, greasy clay. (See plate x; enlarged .'> diameters.) 

Whatever be the method of their formation, it would seem that pearls are formed 
:ii I he expense of the shell, for the substance necessary to their growth is drawn from 
sources which normally secrete the shell. Hence the presence of a pearl can some- 
times be detected on the outside of the shell. Normal appearing shells rarely contain 
pearls, while on the other hand those that are deformed often contain pearls of great 
beauty. There are three indications on which pearl-fishers to some extent rely for 
detecting the presence of pearls from the outward aspect of the shell. These are, 
first, the thread — that is, a recess or elevation extending from the vertex to the edge; 
second, the kidney shape of the shell — that is, an indentation on the ventral side; and 
third, the contortion of both valves toward the middle plane of the animal. 

The precise manner in which pearls are formed is a matter of some uncertainty, 
and several views are held, all of which have some apparent basis in observed facts. 
There are three principal theories, viz, that the special and unusual secretion of the 
pearly material at certain points is due, first, to disease; second, to accidental injury, 
and third, to the intrusion of foreign substances of some kind into the shell. The 
first view is sustained by the fact that pearl production seems to occur in certain 
streams and at certain periods especially, as though it were a result of some peculiar 
condition affecting the shells largely at certain times, like an epidemic disease; and 
it has also a slight analogy in the development of calculi and of gout in higher 
animals. The second theory, that of injury or accident, is largely based upon the 
frequent occurrence of pearls in shells that have an aspect of distortion or deformity. 
This, however, is very tar from being universal, and might also be a result of disease 
rather than of accident. The third view, that pearls are caused by the intrusion of 
foreign bodies, which the ntollusk, if unable to expel, covers over and incloses with 
the pearly secretion, has the evidence of actual demonstration in many instances and 
is unquestionably true to a large extent. It maybe, however, that the other theories, 
particularly that of disease, are also true in some degree, and that pearls maybe 
formed in either of several ways. 

Still another view is held by some, which lies rather between the first and third of 
those already mentioned, viz, that the nucleus of a pearl is au egg of the mollusk, 
which has for some reason failed to be expelled in the usual manner. The ova in the 
liiios are kept tor some time in the outer pair of gills prior to being discharged 
into the water, and it is quite possible that some of them may occasionally be caught 
in the gill tubes and not be able to escape. In such a case the entangled egg may be 
coated over with nacreous material and form a "free" pearl. This, of course, would at 
first be very small and its growth would be due to a continued irritation, producing 



Bull. U. S. F. C, 189/ I ' < o pago 379.) 



Plate III. 





■& 




DIPSAS PLICATUS, INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR, INTERIOR CONTAINING TINFOIL FIGURES OF BUDDHA. 
I qui ini hes long, Pearl coated figure of Buddha, obverso and reverse, showing concave depression originally filled with tinfoil or wax. 





OIPSAS PLICATUS, CONTAINING THREE STRINGS OF BEADS WITH A PEARLY COATING. 
I p r Sou( how, China, 



PEAKLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 379 

an abnormal secretion of the pearl material iu the adjacent tissues. It is evident 
also that pearls of this kind could be formed only in the female shells, and this point 
is one that requires further investigation. 

The evidence for the intrusion theory may be briefly reviewed as follows: Cases 
are known among the marine pearl oysters in which small fish entering the open 
valves of the large shell have 'worked their way in between the shell and the mantle 
and been unable to escape. They have then been coated over with the pearl secretion 
and fastened down thereby to the inner surface of the valve. When subsequently the 
shell has been gathered and opened by pearl-fishers the form of the little intruder 
has been found distinctly preserved in pearly relief on the interior of the shell. Other 
similar instances are also known. 

Among many remarkable specimens of pearls and pearl shells exhibited at the 
World's Fair at Chicago in 1893, and now in the Field Columbian Museum, were 
several examples of this kind. One of these was a small piece of true mother-of-pearl 
shell two-fifths of an inch in length, which broke while undergoing the operation of 
being made into a button, revealing a small inclosed crab immediately below the 
blister. Among fresh water shells the saute fact has been indicated in a few instances — 
one where a crayfish has been thus inclosed beneath a pearly covering, and another 
where a ITnio, from Long Island, contained an insect entombed in the same way. 

There are, however, even more positive proofs. It has long been the habit of the 
Chinese to produce artificial pearl objects by introducing little flat metallic figures, 
usually images of Buddha, between the valves and the mantle of a large river-mussel 
of that country (Dipsas plicatus). These little figures, made of tin, are carefully 
inserted so as not to injure the animal, which is then returned to the water and left 
for some months or a year. When again dredged up and opened, the figures are found 
to be entirely coated over with the pearly material and slightly attached thereby 
to the inner surface of the valve; they may then be easily removed and used for 
ornameuts or charms (plate ill). The Chinese also sometimes insert strings of small 
beads, which become apparently pearls, and carry out this same method by other 
ingenious devices. 

In a shell in the Lea collection of Unionida; which has been presented to the 
United States National Museum, an oval piece of white wax, flat on the lower side 
and rounded on the upper, which had been inserted in the valve near the hinge, is 
entirely coated with a beautiful pink nacre. It has been broken out of the shell, the 
pearly nacre of the lower or flat side remaining in the shell, whereas the dome-shaped 
piece retains the coating. 

At the International Fisheries Exhibition, held iu Berlin during 1880, there were 
shown the results of experiments undertaken in Germany toward the production of 
artificial pearls from Unios, in a manner similar to that practiced by the Chinese. 
Flat tin figures, usually of fish, were introduced between the mantle and the shell. 
Similar experiments were conducted in the Royal Saxon pearl fisheries. Either small 
foreign bodies were introduced into the mantle, iu order to form the nucleus for the 
free pearl formation, or the Chinese method of inserting such bodies between the 
mantle and the shell was followed. From the second method successful results were 
shown. The foreign bodies that had been introduced — poor pearls from other mussels, 
pieces of grain, or china buttons — were entirely covered with nacreous substance. 
The shape of these objects makes it impossible for the mantle to lit closely around 



380 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

them, and lience the nacre covers them so irregularly that it is not possible to make 
any use of them. From specimens exhibited it was shown that German Unios, as 
well as those of China, could be made to cover a plaiu relief with nacre. 

With the great abundance of Unio shells in North America, and their exquisite 
variety of tints, it seems as though a careful and judicious system of experiments 
might develop a form of art industry of great beauty and interest. 

One of the most singular circumstances connected with the New Jersey "pearl 
fever" of 1857 was the discovery of several shells which proved that local savants 
had experimented on the pearl-bearing Unios by dropping mother-of-pearl buttons 
inside the shell, hoping that the mussel would cover them with its secretion. The 
specimens found had evidently been experimented on some thirty years previous, at a 
time when European scientists were greatly interested in shells received from China, 
which had been treated as above described. 

As further bearing on this point, although not in relation to fresh water shells, 
may be noted some facts brought out in the special report on pearl fisheries and pearl 
supply, in vol. II, No. 191, of the United States consular reports (August, 1890). 
In this article Mr. W. J. Weatherill, United States consul at Brisbane, Australia, in 
describing the pearl fisheries in Torres Strait, alludes to the local variation in the 
abundance of pearls in the pearl oysters, and states that the yield is much less where 
the bottom is muddy or clayey than where it consists of gravel or sharp sand. He 
also says that experiments are in progress for the production of pearls by artificial 
introduction of foreign substances, though as yet there has not been time to deter- 
mine how far they may be successful. 

Mr. A. E. Morland, consul at Belize, British Honduras, speaks of the pink pearls 
found in the large West India conch shell (Strombus gigas), and meutions that these 
also can be artificially induced, though it is not done at that place. He refers to an 
instance, however, in which a person did succeed in this process, introducing a foreign 
nucleus through a hole bored in the shell, and thus obtaining conch pearls; but 
instead of being rewarded for his ingenuity the pearl manufacturer was brought 
before a West India magistrate and fined for fraud. 

Fresh-water pearls have attracted attention more or less from very ancient times 
and in many lands. It would seem that pearls from Scotland, and perhaps other 
parts of northern Europe, must have been early articles of trade and baiter with the 
Romans. Suetonius states that Cresar undertook his British expedition partly for 
the sake of finding pearls, and Pliny and Tacitus report his bringing home a buckler 
made of British pearls, which he dedicated to Venus Genetrix and hung up in her 
temple. An account of the pearl fisheries in Ireland 1 was published, stating that 
oysters were found set up in the sands of the river beds, with the open side from the 
torrent. About one iu one hundred would contain a pearl, and one pearl iu one 
hundred would be tolerably clear. Between the years 1701 and 1704 the river Conway 
in Scotland supplied the Loudon market with pearls to the value of £10,000 and tine 
Scotch pearls are still sold in Loudon. The rivers of Cumberland, the Conway and 
the Tay in Scotland have yielded pearls that were noted for their beauty in times 
past, and they still continue to do so. In the United States consular report upon 
Pearls and Pearl Supply, vol. n, No. 191 (August, 1896), several references are made 
to these Scotch and Irish pearls as still in the markets of Europe, though not as being 
very fine. The. Armagh River in County Tyrone and the Slavey River in County 

'Trans. Royal Phil. Si>c. 1693. 



PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 381 

Wexford are mentioned as Irish sources. Lakes in Finland are specified as yielding 
small bluish white pearls, which are chiefly sold as Scotch pearls, which tliey resemble 
hi character. At the Columbian Exposition at Chicago reproductions of ancient 
Irish gold jewelry were shown, in which pearls from rivers in Ireland were employed. 

The abundant Unios of Mesopotamia have not been as yet recognized as raar- 
garitiferous — a fact which seems rather surprising. It may well be, however, that 
pearls from that region would not have been distinguished by traders from the marine 
pearls of the Persian Gulf, into which those rivers discharge. As there has been little 
scientific observation in the Tigris and Euphrates valleys, the precise sources have 
been uuknowu. 

That so few American conchologists have paid attention to American pearls is 
perhaps accounted for by the fact that they are found more frequently in old, distorted, 
and diseased shells, which are not so desirable for collections as the finer specimens. 
Collectors who have opened many thousands of Unios have never observed a pearl of 
value. Pearls are usually found either by farmers, who devote their spare time to 
this industry and, if no result is obtained, suffer no loss, or by persons in country 
villages who are without regular occupation, but are ever seeking means for rapid 
increase of fortune. The general method of collecting shells is for boys and men to 
wade into the mill-race or into the river to their necks, feeling for the. sharp ends of 
the Unio, which always project. When one is discovered the finder either dives after 
it or lifts it with his feet. It was the custom formerly to open the shells in the water, 
and once during the process a pearl the size of a pigeon's egg is said to have been 
dropped into the water and was never recovered. Multitudes of shells that do not 
contain pearls are destroyed. Many brooks and rivers have been completely raked 
and scraped, often in a reckless manner and consequently with little result. This 
wholesale destruction has no doubt exhausted many varieties of these shells, together 
with the depredations of hogs — which have exterminated whole shoals of Unios when 
the brooks were low — and impurities introduced into the water by manufacturing 
establishments. The more eastern States are so densely populated, and the streams 
so contaminated with sewage and refuse from factories, that animal life is rapidly 
disappearing from the water-courses in many localities. 

In order to obviate this wholesale destruction, so far as pearl-hunting is con- 
cerned, it would be well to introduce into this country instruments like those that 
have been employed in Saxony and Bavaria. One of these is a thin, flat, iron tool 
with a bent end which is inserted in the shell. The handle is then turned to 90°, and 
the shell is opened without injury to the animal. Another implement is a pair of 
pliers with sharp-pointed jaws and a screw between the arms, which is turned by the 
hand until the valves of the shell are sufficiently distended to see whether it contains 
a pearl. If it does not, the animal is returned to its former haunts, perhaps to propa- 
gate more valuable progeny. 



382 HUEbKTIN OE THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



EARLY HISTORY OF UNIO PEARLS IN NORTH AMERICA. 



The history of Unio pearls in North America may be reviewed briefly as follows. 
from the <lim, prehistoric past, through the period of discovery and exploration, and 
finally in recent and present developments: 

Examinations of some of the mounds of the Mississippi Valley, especially at cer- 
tain points in Ohio, have revealed the fact that the Forgotten race that erected these 
remarkable structures gathered and used the fresh water pearls to an extent that is to 
as astonishing. On the hearths of some of these mounds in Ohio the pearls have 
been found, not by hundreds, hut by thousands, and even by bushels, now of course, 
damaged and half decomposed by centuries of burial and by the heat of sacrificial fires. 
How such enormous stores of them were obtained is a problem not easy to solve, for 
all the pearls thai have been gathered in the recent years of search and excitement 
woidd not approach in number those found in any one of several such mounds. 

There would seem to be a strong presumption that these ancient people must have 
USed the dniOS largely for food, as we know that the later Indian tribes did. They 
naturally were thus led to the finding of pearls, and accumulated large stoics of them 
in the course of time. The ancient tribes of Brazil have left shell heaps along rivers 
tributary to the Amazon, composed of fresh-water shells of that region (Hi/ria and 
Ca8taUa)', and though no such stores of pearls have been found, yet the shells them- 
selves have been much employed as ornaments among these people. 

Passing on to the period of European discovery and exploration, we find in the 
early records interesting accounts of the possession of pearls by the Indian tribes of 
this country, which they had evidently obtained, largely, if not wholly, from the 
freshwater shells of our rivers and lakes. The Spanish explorers who accompanied 
DeSotO in his memorable expedition from Florida to the Mississippi, in 15 IK, give 
many remarkable accounts of the pearl treasures seen and procured among the 
natives with whom they came in contact in their extensive wanderings through the 
region of the Gulf States, and a hundred years later some of the English colonists 
made references of a similar kind in their accounts of the more northern tribes. 

The whole subject of Unio pearls, however, remained almost untouched by the 
White settlers and colonists until the middle of the present century. In L857 the 
first important pearl discovery was made, near l'aterson. X..I.: and since then, at 
intervals of some years, valuable discoveries have been made in other parts of the 
country, followed in each ease by a widespread popular excitement, or •• pearl lever," 
which has resulted in the almost complete destruction of t he shells over considerable 
areas. When (he streams have been •'cleaned out," and a good many line pearls 
procured and sold, and no more are attainable, the excitement subsides, and the shells 
are again enabled to grow nudist urbed, and in some degree replenish the streams, lint 
of late years the pearl -hunting has extended more widely, and the shells are being 
rapidly reduced; and unless improved methods ar6 adopted for their protection the 
fresh water pearls of North America will, ere long, become a thing of the past. 

faking up the several historical aspects more in detail, we may review, tit st. the 
evidence as to prehistoric use of North American freshwater pearls and pearl shells, 
illustrating u by some references to the habits of modern tribes in other regions. 



PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. .">*."> 

Many years ago, perforated pearls were (bund by Dr. Edwin II. Davis 1 on the 
hearths of live distinct groups of mounds in Ohio, and sometimes in such abundance 
that they could be gathered by the hundred. They were generally of irregular form, 
mostly pear-shaped, though perfectly round ones were also found among them. The 
smaller specimens measured about one fourth of an inch in diameter, but the largest 
had a diameter of three -fourths of an inch. 

According to this same authority, the pearl-bearing shells occurring in the rivers 
of the region whose antiquities are described are not in such abundance that they 
could have furnished the amount discovered in the tumuli; and the pearls of these 
lluviatile shells, moreover, are said to be far inferior in size to those recovered from 
the altars. It was erroneously thought that the latter were derived from the coast of 
the Atlantic and of the Gulf of Mexico. 

In this connection some curious facts are mentioned by the late Dr. E.G. Squier-' 
regarding the use of pearls by the Ohio Mound builders for ornamenting articles of 
carved stone, lie describes a number of objects, chiefly pipes, made in the form of 
heads of animals and birds, carefully and accurately carved from what he terms por- 
phyry, with the eyes represented by small pearls, decomposed or calcined when found, 
but in some instances retaining their places. Another similar object was a small 
human head, the face apparently tattooed, also carved out of dark porphyry, with a 
row of 15 holes, close together, forming a fillet across the top of the forehead. When 
found, "these holes were tilled with small calcined pearls, originally constituting a 
brilliant circlet, contrasting in a striking manner with the dark stone in which they 
were inserted." He compares this little object with one described by Humboldt 
(Researches, vol. 1, p. 4;i) under the title of "Statue of an A/tec Priestess," which 
bears a similar line of sculptured heads or pearls across the forehead. 

Mr. Squier refers to the great abundance of pearls found upon the hearths of 
some of the Ohio mounds even at that early stage of exploration. He thinks that 
their number and size are too great to attribute them to the Chios, and dwells upon 
the marine Shells of the Gulf . coast, that are found also in the mounds, and beads 
made therefrom, as likewise alligators' teeth, tertiary fossils of the South, etc., as 
pointing to extensive traffic and intercourse with the shores of the Mexican Gulf. 
No doubt there was much of such intercourse, but most of the pearls found in Ohio 
are probably from the inland waters. 

Pearls have subsequently been found in great numbers' in the tumuli of the Scioto 
and Miami valleys, in Ohio, by Prof. 1'. W. Putnam, of the Pea body Museum, Cam- 
bridge, Mass., and Mr. Warren K. Moorehead, of Xenia, Ohio, who made extensive 
explorations in these mounds, some of the results of which were shown at the Colum- 
bian Exposition at Chicago. The former had investigated particularly the 'Turner 
group of mounds in the Little Miami Valley, the latter the Hopewell group in Ross 
County near t'hillieothe, on the North Fork of Paint Creek. 

In the Anthropological Building at Chicago was shown the great "find" of pearls 
made by Mr. Moorehead in the Effigy mound of the Hopewell group. Here more 
than a gallon of pearls was obtained, with two skeletons. They ranged from the size 
of a small millet seed to a diameter of two thirds of an inch, or even more. In shape 
they were usually irregular, though many were round or nearly so; hut the absence 



'Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, Squier a Davis, Washington, l s is, p, 252. 
9 Observations on the Aboriginal Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, Trans, of the Amer. Ethno- 
logical Sooiety, New \ ink, vol. n, ts-17. 



384 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

of the elongated and hiuge pearls is remarkable. All had been drilled with holes 
varying from 1 to fully 3 millimeters in diameter, but generally the larger size, made 
with a heated copper wire in the manner described by early travelers as common 
among the Indians. This drilling was undoubtedly for the purpose of attaching 
them to clothing or belts, as shown by the fact that 400 or 500 had been originally 
sewed upon a rough cloth shirt extending from the waist to the knees of a skeleton. 
Copper plates on the hips had preserved traces of the cloth, and several dozen beads 
were found with cloth fiber still extending through the perforation. Pearls were 
usually placed at the wrists, on the ankles, around the neck, or in the mouth. In the 
Porter mounds at Frankfort, Boss County, several hundred were on copper plates. 
Nearly all, however, are found loose, although some are imbedded in a hard, rock- 
like mass of clay, cemented either by a calcareous solution from the weathering of 
the pearls or by an iron oxide produced by the decomposition of the meteoric iron 
ornaments that were found in such quantities in the Hopewell group of mounds. 
These, like all the pearls found in mounds in the Ohio and adjacent valleys, were 
undoubtedly from the Unios, which were evidently very plentiful at the time. Very 
few of the pearls retained any of the original orient, although it is possible that by 
peeling them some good unaltered pearl surfaces could be obtained; but it is more 
likely that either heat or burial in the ground, where they have undoubtedly Iain for 
centuries, has destroyed them by infiltration of surface waters through the earth iu 
which they were imbedded. 

In the explorations which Mr. Moorehead conducted he found over forty bears' 
teeth in which pearls had been set, lying near skeletons. The settings were in the 
side or near the base (root) of the tooth. Skeletons accompanied by a large number 
of pearls always have other relics associated with them, such as native copper articles, 
mica, obsidian, galena, hematite, ocean shells, bad-laud fossils, and other foreign objects. 
This fact would indicate clearly that the remains thus distinguished must have been 
those of prominent persons. 

At a mound in the Little Miami Valley Professor F. W. Putnam and Dr. Charles 
L. Metz procured more than 60,000 pearls, nearly two bushels, drilled and undrilled, 
undoubtedly of Unio origin, all of them, however, decayed or much altered and of no 
commercial value. In 1884 these scientists examined the Marriott mound and found 
nearly 100 Unio shells; among other objects of interest were six canine teeth of bears 
perforated by a lateral hole near the edge at the point of greatest curvature of the 
root, and by passing a cord through this the tooth could be fasteued to any object or 
worn as an ornament. Two of the teeth had a hole bored through near the end of 
the root on the side opposite the lateral perforation, and the hole countersunk in 
order to receive a large spherical pearl about three-eighths of an inch in diameter. 
When the teeth were found the pearls were in place, although chalky from decay. 
Over 250 pearl beads were found, concerning which they say : 

The pearl beads found in the several positions mentioned are natural pearls, probably obtained 
from the several species of Unios in the Ohio rivers. In size they vary from one tenth inch to one-half 
inch in diameter, and many are spherical. They are neatly drilled, and the larger from opposite sides. 
These pearls are now chalky, and crumble on handling, but when fresh they would have formed 
brilliant necklaces and pendants. — (18 Kept. Peabody Museum, p. 449, 1886.) 

At the Turner group, iu the Little Miami Valley, Professor Putnam, exploring 
for the Peabody Museum, secured half a bushel, nearly every one blackened by heat, 
some cracked, and all impaired in luster. Mr. Moorehead took from two hearths 
upward of 100,000 pearls. 



PEARLS AND PEAKL FISHERIES. 385 

In an altar or "hearth" of the Effigy mound were found a number of bears' teeth 
and several quarts of pearls, many of which had several successive layers flaked off. 
Some of these pearls measured two-thirds of an inch in diameter. In tliis remarkable 
altar were found hundreds of obsidian knives and spears of exquisite workmanship, 
measuring from a few inches up to 8 inches in length. With these were several 
hundred earrings made of native copper coated with meteoric iron. 

From their manner of occurrence in connection with the skeletons, the archaeologist 
is led to see that the use of pearls, although so many are found, was confined to a few 
individuals. A remarkable fact in this connection is that pearls have never been 
found in isolated mounds nor out of the great mound groups. The hill mounds, the 
villages of the small streams, and the tumuli of northern Ohio have yielded none. 
They seem to have been used by the more cultured tribes, and are an evidence of 
extensive trade and barter. 

It is of interest to archaeologists to note, further, that pearls are not found in any 
quantity outside of the Miami and Scioto valleys, and that they were deposited with 
the remains of persons held in especial distinction, while the enormous numbers 
found indicate that the yield of Unio pearls must have been far greater in the 
remote past than it has been at any time since the whites have occupied the country. 

From Taylor's mound, Oregouia,Warren County, Ohio, there were four Unio shells 
in which a hole two-thirds of an inch in diameter had been drilled, either for the 
purpose of extracting a piece of the shell to make a bead from, or else to allow the 
shell to be used as an ornament. From this same mound were shown decorated disks 
made of Unio shells and a long Unio from which the corner nearest the lip had been 
ground down or cut off, to adapt it for use as a scraper or a tool of some kind. 

The South American exhibits at the Columbian Exposition at Chicago presented 
many interesting uses of pearly shells, both for inlaying and in various forms of 
personal adornment. Both these modes of application seem to have been carried 
very far among some of the native tribes of this continent. 

In the Amazon Basin the Unio family is well developed, but is largely represented 
by two genera not found elsewhere — Gastalia and Hyria. These are characteristic 
South American types, differing from the Unios and Anodons of North America and 
the Old World, but equally suitable for ornamental uses from their pearly character. 
Probably many of the objects here described were made from these shells. 

In the Paraguay collection were a number of necklaces made of oblong squares 
of Unio shell, and connected by means of a fiber drawn through two drilled holes at 
the upper end, while the lower ends are decorated with three small circular drillings 
which do not entirely perforate the shell. Another necklace consisted of small joints 
of hollow reed or bamboo, about an inch in length, between which were blue glass 
beads, and pendent from each of these a small brilliant Unio shell, pure white, with a 
slight iridescence, and remarkably beautiful. Still another necklace was made 
entirely of Unio shells, not very iridescent, with the dark-brown epidermis remaining 
on the exterior. Internally the drilling was either near one of the ends or toward the 
center of the shell. These were strung by thin vegetable liber, so as to hang pendent 
about 3 inches from the fiber necklace, and were evidently intended to serve for a 
rattle or noise-producing ornament. In the same exhibit were a number of pendants, 
consisting of small pieces or large sections of Unio shells, beautifully iridescent, 
varying from oval to disk shape, and from 1 to I inches long. In another necklace 
Unios were strung indiscriminately with hoofs of some small animal. 

F. C. B. 1897 25 



386 MTLLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

The use of slu-lls as ornaments is very pronounced among these people. In addi- 
tion l" those mentioned, 1ml las and land shells were strung in a similar manner. These 
were white, gray, yellow, frequently with pink-tinted tips. An interesting necklace 
consisted of operculums, 2 inches in length, of some large shell, attached by a fiber 
and decorated will) yellow leathers. 

Prom Peru life size models of the Zaperos and Jiveroa Indians, residing on the 
Montana of Peru, were shown fully attired with their ornaments. These tribes decorate 
their head dresses, shoulder bands, and breasts with a profusion of circular, diamond 
shaped, and pear shaped pieces of a brilliant Anodon shell. These they arrange to 
form stars and other patterns by sewing a number of them to the fabric, generally by 
means of perforations, and they frequently have them swinging as pendants from the 
dress. They also use small luio shells, the wing cases of beetles, white and red dried 
seeds, teeth of animals, etc. 

Passing to the historical accounts of the early explorers of the New World, we 
f i litl that Columbus himself and all the Spanish discoverers were attracted and 
impressed by the frequent and abundant possession of pearls among the natives. 
These pearls among the West Indian peoples and the coast tribes were probably from 
the marine pearl oyster which occurs to some extent along the shores of the Caribbean 
Sea. On the mainland of North America, however, it seems clear that the pearls 
found by DeSoto and his party all through the present Southern States must have 
come largely from the I'niosof the adjacent lakes and streams, like those possessed 

by the prehistoric Mound builders before. 

Omitting for the present, many interesting accounts of pearl treasures observed 
in the West Indies, and by Balboa and others on or near the Pacific shores of Central 
America and the Isthmus — which last relate to the true marine pearl oyster — we 
may pass to the accounts of De Soto's expedition, and the pearls found and seen 
throughout the whole region from Florida to upper Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. 

When the king of Spain made Hernando DeSoto governor of Cuba and conqueror 
of Florida, with the title of Adelantado, his concession provided that one tilth of all 
the gold and silver, precious stones, and pearls won in battle, on entering towns, or 
obtained by barter with the Indians, be reserved to the Crown. It was further stipu- 
lated that the gold and silver, gems, pearls, and other treasures which might be found 
and taken, as well in the graves, sepulehcrs. oeues, or temples of the Indians as 
in other places where they were accustomed to offer Sacrifices to idols, or in other 
concealed religious precincts or buried houses, or in any ot her public place "should 
be equally divided between the king and the party making the discovery." 1 It is 
evident that among the valuable trophies of this expedition precious pearls were confi- 
dently anticipated; and that the Spaniards were not disappointed in this expectation 
the early narratives abundantly testify. These establish beyond all controversy 
that pearls were used as ornaments among the Indians of Florida and the South. 

It is related how, near the Bay of Kspiritu Santo (now Tampa. P>ay), in Florida, 
the followers of DeSoto came upon the town of an Indian chief called I'eita. His 
house siood near the beach, and at the other end of the town was a temple, on the 
top of which perched a wooden fowl with gilded eyes. Within these eyes were pearls 
such as the Indians greatly valued, piercing them for beads and stringing them to wear 
about their necks and wrists. When the Indian queen welcomed the Spanish adven- 
turer to the hospitalities of the Cutifaehiqui she drew from over her head a long string 

Antiquities of the Southern 1 ml in us. by Chariea C. .'oucs (Ne'w York, is:;;>. p. 167. 



PEARLS AND l'EARL FISHERIES. 387 

of pearls, and, throwing it around bis neck, exchanged with liini gracious words of 
friendship aud courtesy. Observing that the Christians valued these pearls, the 
cacica told the governor that if be would order the search of some sepulchers in 
the village he would find many pearls, and if he chose to send to the sepulchers in 
the uninhabited towns he might load all his horses with them. The Spaniards did 
examine and rifle of their contents the sepulchers in Cutifachiqui, and upon the 
authority of the Knight of El vas obtained from them 350 pounds' weight of pearls, 
some of which were formed after the similitude of babies and birds (baroques). If the 
truth were known, or if an Indian had written this account, we should probably find 
that DeSoto and his companions, in their eager quest for treasures, violated the graves 
without permission and plundered the receptacles wherein were gathered the most 
costly possessions of the natives. As a proof that the Indians did not willingly part 
with these ornaments, but suffered pillage through fear of these strange and wanton 
men, we are informed that when the cacica, whom DeSoto compelled to accompany 
him with the intention of taking her to (iuaxule, which was the farthest limit of her 
territory, succeeded in making her escape, she carried back with her a cane box tilled 
with unbored pearls, the most precious of all her jewels. 

buys Hernandez de Biedma says that the governor, while at this town, opened a 
"mosque" in which were interred the chief personages of that country. 

From it we took a quantity of pearls of the weight of as many as 6i or 7 arrobas, though they 
were injured from lying in the earth and in the adipose substance of the dead. 

Ill the estimate of the relator, one of the saddest losses encountered by the expe- 
dition iu the bloody affair at Manilla was the destruction of the pearls which the 
Spaniards had been sedulously collecting during their wanderings in this strange 
laud. 

The most minute and interesting description of the manner in which the Indians 
obtained pearls aud converted them into beads is furnished by Garcilasso Inca de la 
Vega. While De Soto was in the town of Ichiaha, which was probably located at or 
near the confluence of the Etowah and Oostanaula rivers, possibly on the very spot 
now occupied by the city of Rome, Georgia, the following circumstance occurred: 

The oaoique came one day to the governor, bringing him a present of a string of pearls 5 feet in 
length. These pearls were as large as filberts, and had they not been bored bj means of tire, which 
had discolored them, would have been of immense value. De Soto thankfully received them, and iu 
return presented the Indian chief with pieces of velvet and cloth of various colors and other Spanish 
trifles held in much esteem by the natives. In reply to the demand of De Soto, the cacique stated 
that the pearls had been obtained in the neighborhood. He further told him that iu the sepulcher of 
his ancestors was amassed a prodigious quantity, of which the Spaniards were welcome to earn away 
as many as they pleased. The Adclantado thanked him for his good will, but replied that, much as 
he wished for pearls, he never would insult the sanctuaries of the dead to obtain them, adding that 
he only accepted the string from the chieftain's hands. 

De Soto having expressed a curiosity to see the manner of extracting pearls from the shells, the 
oaoique instantly dispatched -10 canoes to fish for oysters during the night. At an early hour next 
morning a quantity of wood was gathered and piled upon the river bank, and being sit on tire was 
speedily reduced to glowing embers. As soon as the canoes arrived the oysters were laid upon the 
hot coals. They quickly opened with the heat, and from some of the first thus opened the Indians 
obtained 10 or ll! pearls as large as peas, which they brought to the governor and the cacique, who 
were standing together looking on. They were of a line quality, but somewhat discolored by the lire 
and smoke. The Indians were apt also to furthor injure pearls thus obtained by horiug them with a 
heated copper instrument. 

Me Soto, having gratified his curiosity, returned to his quarters to partake of his morning meal. 
While thus engaged a soldier entered with a largo pearl in his hand, lie had stewed some oysters, 



388 BULLETIN OF THE UNITKI) 8TATE8 FISH COMMISSION. 

n,l m eating llii'in I'rll the pearl between his teeth. Nut having been inj iiristl by lire or smoke, it 
retainotl Its beautiful whiteness, and was ho large and porfecl in its form that several Spaniaids, who 
protended to be skilled In those matters, deolared it would be worth 400 ducats. The soldier would 
bavc given it to the governor to present to his - wife, Dona Isabel de Bohadilla, but De Soto declined 
the generous offer, advising him to preserve it until be should arrive at Havana, wheu lie oould pur- 
chase Iioiscm and other necessaries with it; moreover, as a reward for 1 1 i« liberality, De Soto insisted 
upon paying the fifth of the value due the Crow n.' 

During the course of the weary marob of the expedition through the mountains 
of upper Georgia, the following circumstance is related by the same historian: 

\ [bot-Boldier, calling to a horseman who was his friend, drew forth from his wallet a linen bag in 
u in, h were h pounds of pearls, probably filched from one of the Indian Bopulehers. These he olfcrcd 

as a gift to his < ade, being heartily tired of carrying them on his back, though he had a pair of 

broad shoulders oapable of bearing the burden of a mule. The horseman refused to accept so thought- 
less an oiler. " Keep I hem yourself," said be, ".you have most need of thorn. The governor intends 
shortly to send messengers to Havana, when you can forward these presents and have thein sold, and 

obtain three or four horses with the proceeds, so that yon need no longer go °" foot." .loan Terron 

n as piqued at having his offer refused. " \\ ell," said be, " if you will not have them, I swear I will 

not carry them, and they shall remain here." So saying, he untied the bag, and whirling it around as 
If be were sou ing seed, scattered the pearls in all direot ions among the thickets and herbage. Then 

putting U|> his hag in his wallet, as if it was more valuable than the pearls, he marched on, leaving 

iiis ( ades ami other bystanders astonished at his folly. The soldiers made a hasty search for the 

Boattorod pearls and recovered thirty of them. When they beheld their great size and beauty, none 
of them being bored or discolored, they lamented that so many of them had been lost, for the whole 

would have sold in Spain for more than 6,000 ducats. This egregious folly gave rise In a common 
proverb In the army, "There are UO pearls for Juan Terron." The poor fellow himself became an 

object of constant jest and rid loule, until at last, made sensible of his absurd conduct, he implored 

them never to banter him further on the subject.' 

Kontaneda states that at the place where Lucas Vasquez went seed pearls were 
found in certain conchs, and that between Ilavalachi and Olagale is a river called by 
the Indians (iuasacaesqui, which means, in the Spanish language, Kio de ('anas 
(river of canes), which is an arm of the sea; and along the adjacent coast pearls are 
procured from certain oysters and conchs. These are carried to till the provinces and 

villages of Florida, but principally to Tooobaja, the nearest town. The [udiausoftbe 
to« n of Ahaladii asserted that the Spaniards hanged their cacique because lie would 

not give them a string of large pearls which he wore around his neck, the middle 

pearl of which was as big as the egg of a turtledove. Etibault frequently alludes 

to the possession of pearls by the natives of Florida, and on one occasion saw the 
goodliest man of a company of Indians with a collar of gold and silver about his neck, 
from which depended a pearl "as large as an acorn, at the least." ' A present of 
pearls from the cacique to the conquerors was an earnest token .of consideration and 

the most acceptable pledge of friendship thai he could oiler. 

According to Albert .1. Pickett, the oyster alluded to by (Jarcilasso was identical 
with the mussel so common in all the rivers of Alabama lie says: 

Heaps of mussel shells are now to be seen on our river hunks wherever Indians used to live. 

They were much used by the ancient Indians for some purpose, and old warriors have informed me 

that their ancestors one used the shells to temper the (day with which they made their vessels. But 
as thousands of the shells lie hanked up, some deep in the ground, we may also suppose that the 



I'll,' foregoing is taken from Theodore lrvings Conquest of Florida under Hernando DeSoto 
(London, 1835), VOJ, '-'. p. II, and is from I'iori'o Kiehelot's t lanslul ion, made in 1831. De la Vega's 
entire work, translated from the same SOUroe, appears in the History of Hernando I leSotO and Florida, 

bj Barnard Shipp (Philadelphia, 1881). 

i ',,u. | u, 'st of Florida under Hernando DeSoto, by Theodore Irvine ^ London, 1835), vol. 2, p. 7. 
the whole and True Discovery of Terra Florida, by Thomas Haokett (London, 1563 



PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 3X9 

Indiana in De Soto's time, everywhere in Alabama, obtained pearls from them. There can bo no 
doubt about the quantity of pearls found in this State and Georgia in 1540, but they were of a coarser 
and more valueless kind than the Spaniards supposed. The Indians used to perforate them with a 
heated copper spindle and string them around their necks and arms like heads. 

David Id gram, during the " Land Travels" of himself and others in the year 
1568-1569, from the Rio de Minas in the Gulf of Mexico to Cape Breton in Acadia, 
made the following observations: 

There is in some of those Countreys great abundance of Pcarle, for in every cottage he founde 
Tearle, in some howse a quarte, in some a pottdl, in some a pecke, more or lease, where he did see 
some as great as an acorn, and Richard Browne, one of his companions, found one of these great 
pearls in one of their canoes, or Boatea, Wch Pcarle he gauc to Mouns Champaine, whoe toke them 
aboarde his Shippe, and brought them to Newhaven in fl'rauuce. 

The English were quick to note the presence of pearls in America, being already 
acquainted with those found in the rivers of Scotland and Ireland; and hence we have 
repeated references to them from early English travelers and colonists. 

A member of the expedition of Sir Walter Raleigh collected from the natives of 
Virginia 5,0(10 pearls, "of which number he chose so many as made a fayre chaine, 
which for their likeness and uniformity in ronudnesse, orientnesse and pideuesse of 
many excellent colors, with equalitie in greatness, were very fayre and rare." 1 

In the plates illustrative of the '•Admiranda Narratio" and the "Brevis Narratio," 
the natives both of Virginia and Elorida are represented in the possession of numerous 
strings of pearls of large size; and in his description of the "treasure of riches" of 
the Virginia Indians, Robert Bevery says: 

They likewise have some pearls amongst them, and formerly had many more, but where they 
got them is uncertain, except they found them in the oyster banks which are frequent in this country. - 

Wilson asserts that he saw pearls "bigger than Rouncival pease," aud perfectly 
round, taken from oysters found on the Carolina coast. 3 

father Louis Hennepin assures us that the Indians along the Mississippi wore 
bracelets and earrings of tine pearls, which they spoiled, having nothing to bore them 
with but tire. He adds: 

They gave us to understand that they received them in exchange for their calumets from nations 
inhabiting the coast of the great lake to the southward, which I take to be the ( Julph of Florida. 

Sufficient historical evidence has been given to show that pearls were in general 
use among the southern Indians; that the choicest of them were the prized ornaments 
of the prominent personages of the tribes; that the rluviatile mussels were collected 
and opened for the purpose of procuring them ; that the marine shells of the Atlantic, 
the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific, yielded tribute to the labor, skill, and taste of 
numerous pearl-divers, and that these pearls were found, not only in the possession 
of the living, but also in large quantities in the graves of chieftains and the sepulchers 
of the undistinguished dead. 

Doubtless, however, the accounts that have reached us from the historians of 
these expeditions and voyages are somewhat extravagant with regard to the quality, 
quantity, and size of the pearls in the possession of the natives. From the interviews 
between the Europeans and the latter, it appears that the Indians obtained their 
peans both from marine shells aud from fresh- water mussels. Some of the true 
oysters of Georgia and Florida are margaritiferous, and many of them contain seed 



1 A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia ( Frankfort on the Main, 1590) p. 11. 
-Documents connected with the History of South Carolina, edited by I'lowden Charles Jennett 
Weston (London, 1856), p. 8. 

3 Transactions of the Philosophic Society for 1093. 



390 BULLETIN OP THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

pearls. Speoimens symmetrical in shape, as large as pepper-corns, and not wanting 
in beauty, have been observed i>.v Ool. Charles 0. Jones, who says: 

Some were quite big enough to have been perforated in the rude fashion practiced by the Indians. 
Thej wore, however, of a milky oolor and opaque. Neither in size nor quality « 1 i < 1 they answer the 
description spoken <>i in the Spanish narratives.' 

The fiuviatile mussels contributed more freely than any others to the treasures of 
these early people. At various points along the southern rivers relic beds are found, 
composed «>r the fresh water shells native bo the streams. 

Kjoekkenmoeddings on the 8t. Johns River, Florida, consisting of river shells, 
were examined and described i>.v Prof. Jeffries Wyman. lie saw similar accumula- 
tions on the hanks of the Concord River in Massachusetts, anil was informed by eye- 
witnesses I hat they are numerous in California. 2 The inland lakes of Florida, also, 
ami even some ponds in middle Georgia and Alabama, exhibit along their banks 
similar ancient refuse piles where lacustrine shells abound. These heaps are common 

in the South, and several of them <>n the banks of the Savannah River, above 

Augusta, are fully described by Charles C. Jones.' He says: 

In these relic, beds no two parts of the «nn< «iu>il are, ;>s a general rule, found in juxtaposition. 
The binge la broken, and the valveB of the shell, after having been artificially torn asunder, seem to 
have been oarelesBly oast aside and allowed to aooumulate. 

In order to ascertain the precise varieties of shells from which the southern 
Indians obtained their pearls, Mr. Jones invited an expression ol opinion from the 
following scientists, whose pursuits rendered them familiar with the conohology oi 

the United states. They throw considerable light upon this inquiry. 

Dr. William Stitnpson, of theOhioagO Academy of Sciences, considered the State 
ments of the early Spanish historians with regard to the size of the pearls (as large 
as Alberts) exaggerated. Be says: 

i 'hi pearls of the Ivioula, our only margaritiferous marine genus, :n<> very small, and those of 
tlir oyster valueless, The Indians must, have obtained their pearls from the fresh water i»i \ :i 1 \ <■« 
i / '»ici Mini Inodon | whioh abound in the rivers of Georgia, eto, rhese are usually small, bul in verj 
rare Instances examples have ooourred reaohing In diameter one-third of an inoh. 

Prof. Joseph l.e< 'onle writes : 

Musi of iin> fresh-water mussels oontain small pearls now and then, By far tlu> licst and largest 
Dumber l have seen were taken from the 4nodon gihboaa (Lea), a large and beautiful shell abundant 
in the swamps of Libert] County, Qa., ;it li>;mi In Bulltown and Altamaha Bwamps, Some of the 
poarls taken from this speoieB are as largo as swan shot. Of the salt-water shells, i know not ii ' anj 
produce pearls exoept the oyster (0»trta virginioa). Pearls of Bmall si.i> are Bometimes found in them. 

Prof. William s. Jones, of the University of Georgia, Bays that he has seen small 
pearls in many of the I'nios found in southern Georgia. 

Prof, Jeffries Wyman, alter a careful and extensive series of excavations in the 

shell heaps of Florida, failed to find a single pearl. He remarks: 

1 1 is hardly probable thai the Spaniards oould have been mistaken as to the faol of the ornaments 
ofthe Indiana beiug pearls; but in view of their frequent exaggerations 1 am almost oompelled to the 
beliefthat there was some mistake, and possibly they maj not have distinguished between the pearls 
:uui iin' sin'11 beads, some of whioh would oorrespond with the alio and shape of the pearls mentioned 
in i in- Spaniards, 



Antiquities of the Southern Indians (Now fork, 1873). p, 481. 

Cf Fresh \\ ater siu>ll Heaps of the St, Johns River, East Florida (Salem, Mass., 1868), p. 6, 
Antiquities "i the Southern Indians (Nov York, iS7;;>, p, Js;: ; also Monumental Remains of 
Georgia (S»> nuuah, 1861 ), p, 14, 



PEAKLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 3 ( J1 

Prof. Joseph Joues, whoso investigations throw much valuable light upon the 
contents of the ancient tumuli of Tennessee, says: 

1 do nut remember finding a genuine pearl in the many mounds which I have opened in the 
valleys of the Tennessee, tin- Cumberland, the Barpetb, and elsewhere. Many of the pearls described 
by the Spaniards were probably little else than polished heads oul out of large sea shells and from the 
thicker portions of fresh-water mussels, and prepared so as to resemble pearls. I have examined 
thousands, and all present a laminated structure as it' carved out of thick shells and sea concha. 

Charles M. Wheat ley was confident that there were "splendid pearls in southern 
Unios," and instances the Unto blandingianus and the large old Unto buddianvs (Intel,- 
leyi) from Lakes George and Monroe in Florida as pearl bearing. lie says: 

In Georgia the large, thick shells of the Chattahoochee, such as the I'uin elliotti, would be must 
likely to contain fine ones, but there is no positive rule, as an injured shell of any species will doubtless 
afford some, irregular in most cases and of no value, but in some instances worth from $.j(J to $100. 

Be also mentions that he has received from the Tennessee River, in Alabama, 
line round pearls, both white and rose-colored. 
John (i. Anthony writes i 

I never have collected in Florida and but little in Georgia, hut what I can say about Ohio 1 
presume will hold good in other States, that the Unios of various species furnish them tolerably 
abundantly there. They are not eonlined to any particular species, hut are generally found in the 
thicker and inure ponderous shells, though even the thinner shells often have small ones, especially 
SUOh as are found ill caiiuK. pondB, and places which seem to he not so healthy for the animal on 
account, of stagnant water. 1 recollect taking over twenty small ones out of the mantleof one speci- 
men of Unio fragilit—U. gracilis (Barnes} — which 1 found in the Miami Canal; and almost every old 
shell there had more or fewer pearls iii it. U. torsus (Raf. ), V. orbiculatus 1 1 iildreth), U. costal us (Raf.), 

and /'. itiiiliilatiiH (Barnes) also produce them in Ohio. I have seen about half a pint of beautiful 
pearls, regularly formed ami pea si/c, which were taken in one season and in one neighborhood j so 
you nun judge of their frequency, though, as I hinted before, it is probable that a kind of disease 
caused by impure water may govern their production somewhat. No doubt the Southern waters are 
given to making pearls, as well as ( ihio streams. I have seen protuberances of the pear] character in 

sunt belli shells, and have loubt that one collecting them with the animal ill them would find pearls. 

I particularly recollect I'nio ijlohulus (Say) and I', morion i (Conrad I, both Louisiana Bpeoies, as having 
these protuberances in their nacreous matter. Georgia Unios are general!] too thin to produce any 
excess of pearly matter and form pearls, but the Louisiana shells from Bayou Teohe which I have seen 
have a remarkably pearly nacre, quite thick, reminding one very much of the marine shell rrigonia 
as to nacre. No doubt the bayous, which have in general no current at all, would make first-rate 
places for pearl brooding. 

Dr. Charles Ban 1 writes: 

1 learned I rum I >r. Samuel (i. lirintou, who was surgeon of the Army of the Cumberland during the 
civil war, that mussels of the Tennessee Kiver were occasionally eaten "as a ■ hange" by the soldier-, 
ut that corps, and pronounced no bad article of diet. Shells of the Cnio are sometimes found in 
Indian graves, where they had been deposited with the dead to serve as food during the journey to 
the land of spirits. 

Dr. Briuton saw on the Tennessee River and its tributaries numerous shell-heaps 
consisting almost exclusively of the U, virginianus (Lamarck). In every instance he 
found shell-heaps close to the water-courses on rich alluvial bottom lands. He says: 

The mollusks had evidently been opened by placing them on a tire. The Tennessee mussel is mar- 
garitiferous, and there is no doubt but that it was from this species that the early tribes obtained the 
hoards of pearls which the historian of DeSoto's exploration estimated by the bushel, and which 

were so much pri/od as ornaments. J 



'Ancient Aboriginal Trade in North America, Keport of the Smithsonian Institution for 1S7L', p. 
3S of the author's reprint. 

-See Artilicial Shell Deposits in the United States, in the Keport of the Smithsonian Institution 
for 186tj, p. 357. 



392 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

A source has recently been pointed out whence small pearls, and perhaps some flue 
ones, could have been obtained in considerable quantities by the Indians of Florida. 
In the Unios of some of the fresh-water lakes of that State there have been found 
largo numbers of pearls, most of them small, but mauy large enough to be perforated 
and worn as beads. From one Uuio there were taken 84 seed pearls; from another 
50, from a third 20, and from several 10 or 12 each. The examinations were chiefly 
confined to Lake Griflin and its vicinity. It is said that on an island in Lake Okee- 
chobee are the remains of an old pearl-fishery, aud it is proposed to open the shells 
of this lake, which are large, in hopes of finding pearls of superior size and quality. 

The use of pearls as ornaments by the southern Indians, and the quantities of 
shells opened by them in various localities, make it seem strange that pearls are not 
more frequently met with in the relic beds aud sepulchral tumuli of that region; but 
after exploring many shell and earth mounds, Col. Charles C. Jones failed, except in a 
few instances, to find auy. 1 A few were obtained in the extensive relic bed before 
alluded to, on the Savannah River above Augusta, the largest being four-tenths of an 
inch in diameter, but all of them blackened by fire. Mauy of the smaller mounds on 
the coast of Georgia do not contain pearls, because at the period of their construction 
the custom of burning the dead appears to have prevailed, hence it may bo that the 
pearls were either immediately consumed or so seriously injured as to crumble out of 
sight. This absence of pearls tends somewhat to confirm the opinion that beads and 
ornaments made from the thicker portious of shells, that were carved, perforated, and 
brilliant with their primal coveriug, were regarded by the imaginative Spaniards as 
pearls. More minute investigation, however, will doubtless reveal the existence of 
pearls in localities where the pearl-bearing shells were collected. Perforated pearls 
have been found in an ancient burying-ground located near the bank of the Ogeechee 
Eiver, in Bryan County, Ga. ; and many years ago, after a heavy freshet on the Oconee 
River, which laid bare many Indian graves in the neighborhood of the large mouuds 
on Poullain's plantation, fully a hundred pearls of considerable size were gathered. 

It seems probable that what were regarded as pearls by the early Spanish voy- 
agers were, to a large extent, really such, although it is well known that shell beads 
have been found in mounds in connection with pearls. But the numbers found in 
Ohio mounds by Prof. Frederick W. Putnam, and by others, leave no room for doubt 
in this matter. That the Indians of the South also had these pearls, both drilled and 
undrilled, is beyond question. Notwithstanding the intercourse existing between 
remote Indian tribes, as shown by many authorities, and the fact that Pacific coast 
shells have been carried to Arizona, aud that clam shells have been found in Zuni 
cities by Lieut. Frank H. Gushing, it is likely that these pearls came, not from the 
pearl oysters of the Pacific coast, but from the marine shells of the Atlantic coast 
and the fresh- water shells of the eastern part of the coutiuent. It is very probable 
that the Indians opeued the shells to secure the animal as an article of food ; that the 
shells of some varieties, such as the common clam and conch, were made into wampum; 
and that the pearls found in the shells were used as ornaments, whether lusterless 
pearls from the common oyster or lustrous ones from the Uuio. 

For a considerable period, however, after the first explorations, the pearl resources 
of North America seem to have attracted little attention. The Indian race was con- 
tending with the whites for the possession of the country; it was a time of uncertainty 
aud strife for both races; and uot until the great waterways of the Mississippi Valley 

' Antiquities of Southern Indians, p. 486. 



PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 3!)3 

had been won by the whites, the region occupied, and settled communities established, 
do we again begin to find any indications of the search for pearls. For some two 
centuries the Unios lived and multiplied in the rivers and streams, unmolested by 
either the native tribes that had used them for food or the pioneers of the new race 
that had not yet learned of their hidden treasures. 

Fresh-water pearls are found, as before stated, in various species of the Uuios, 
frequently, according to Dr. Isaac Lea, in the common Unio complanatus, but also 
in the following: U. blandingianus, TI. buddianus, U. costatus, U. elliotti, U. fragilis, 
U. globulus, I', gracilis, U. mortoni, U. nodosus, U. orbiculatus, U. oral us, U. forms, 
U. undulatus, and U. virginianus, and doubtless to some extent in all the species. Not 
one pearl in a hundred, however, is of good shape, and probably not more than one in 
a hundred of these is really fine. Therefore, as the worth of a pearl depends on bol li 
luster and form, the greater number -obtained are of slight value. Rev. Horace C. 
Hovey, however, is credited with having found a pearl half an inch across in the shell 
of a Unio ovatus, near Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Unio pearls have been sought since the settlement of this country, and the narra- 
tives of early voyagers abound with references to them. In an ancient catalogue 1 
of the objects of natural history, made in 1749 by John Winthrop, F. R. S., the follow- 
ing items are mentioned: 

30. 1'uripe pearls which in time would have become (31). 

31. Bright pearls which are produced in the same shells (30). 

32. Some of the larger sea pearl shells which are often found in deeper waters three times as 
large and hear larger pearls. 

N. B. — Almost all the lakes, ponds, and brooks contain a large fresh-water clam which also bears 
pearls. The Indians say they have no pearls in them at certain seasons, but at the season when they 
grow milky the pearls arc digested in them, which causes their milkiness. 

Dr. Samuel P. Hildreth writes: 

Some of the fresh-water shells produce very fine pearls. I have one taken in the waters of the 
Muskingum, from the shell known as the Vnio nodonus of Barnes. It is a thick, tuberculated shell, 
with the most rich and pearly nacre of any in the Western rivers. The specimen is perfect in form, 
being plano-convex on one side and a full hemisphere on the opposite. It is nearly one-half inch in 
diameter across the plane face, and three-eighths inch through the transverse diameter, and of a very 
rich pearly luster. Set in a gold watch-key and surrounded by facets of jet it makes a beautiful 
appearance, and is by far the largest and finest pearl I have ever seen. Several others have been 
found, but uone to be compared to this. 2 

Within recent years, however, the gathering of Unio pearls has attained to con- 
siderable importance, and economic problems have begun to arise that warrant and 
even demand careful and detailed inquiry. These present aspects will be considered 
in the following pages. 

i Am. .1. Sci., I, vol. -17, p. 284, Jan. 1845. 

- Am. J. Sci., 1, vol. 25, p. 257, April 1834. Ten Days in Ohio, from the Diary of a Naturalist. 



394 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



THE PEARL FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES IN RECENT YEARS. 



Although the gathering of pearls from the fresh-water shells of North America 

isn matter of comparatively recent date among the present inhabitants, it really goes 
back very far, as already indicated, into the unrecorded past. Tbe first European 
explorers speak frequently of the number and beauty of the pearls in possession of 
the natives. Pull references have been given previously to the striking accounts in 
connection with the great expedition of DeSotO from Florida through the present 
Cull' States to the Mississippi in 1540-41 and" to the process of gathering the shells 
and opening them by heat, as shown to DeSoto, at his request, by a friendly chief. 
In the same way several early English travelers, from New England to Florida, refer 
to the Indians as having pearls. No particular attention, however, was given to the 
subject in the United States until about forty years ago. The natives had been 
dispossessed, and the white race, occupied with other interests and necessities, took 
little note of the hosts of fresh-water shells inhabiting the streams and lakes, and did 
not suspect their power of producing pearls. 

In 1857 a pearl of tine luster, weighing 93 grains, was found at Notch Brook, near 
l'aterson, N. .1. It became known as the "Queen pearl," and was sold by Tiffany & 
Co. to the Empress Eugenie of Prance for $2,500. It is to-day worth four times that 
amount. The news of this sale created such an excitement that search for pearls was 
started throughout the country. The Chios- at Notch Brook and elsewhere were 
gathered by the million and destroyed, often with little or no result. A large, round 
pearl weighing 400 grains, which would doubtless have been the finest pearl of modern 
times, was ruined by boiling to open the shell. Within one year pearls were sent to 
the New York market from nearly every State— in 1857 fully $15,000 worth. In 185S 
it fell off to some $2,000; in 1859 about $2,000; in I860 about $1,500; in 1SG0-18G3 
only $1,500. The excitement thus abated until about L868, when there was a slight 
revival of interest, and many line pearls wore obtained from Little Miami River, Ohio. 

Some of the linest American pearls that were next found came from near Waynes- 
ville, Ohio. $.".,000 worth being collected in that vicinity during the pearl excitement 
of L876, At that time Israel II. Harris, of Waynesville, began what lias since become 
one of the linest and best-known collections of Unio pearls in this count ry. purchas- 
ing during many years every specimen of value that he could find in that part of the 
State. Among his pearls was one button-shaped on the back and weighing 38 grains; 
also several almost transparent pink ones, and an interesting specimen showing where 
a pearl had grown almost entirely through the Unio. His collection contained more 
than 2, 000 pearls, weighing over 2,000 grains, and is in all probability the last collec- 
tion that will be made from that district. It was exhibited in the jewelry department 
at the World's Fair held in Paris during 1889. Since 1880 pearls have come from 
comparatively new districts farther west and south, the supply from which is appar- 
ently increasing. At first but few were found, or rather few were looked for, west ot 
Ohio, hut gradually the line extended, and Kentucky, Tennessee, and Texas became 
the principal pearl producing States, and some pearls were sent north from Florida. 



PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 395 

A fine round, pink pearl of 30 grains was found in a Unio near St. John, New 
Brunswick, and now belongs to George Reynolts, of Toronto, Canada. 

A few years later the interest extended to the Northwestern States. During the 
summer of 1SS9 a quantity of magnificently colored pearls were found in the creeks 
and rivers of Wisconsin, in Beloit, Rock County; Brodhead and Albany, Green 
County; Gratiot and Darlington, Lafayette County; Boscobel and Potosi, Grant 
County; Prairie du Chien and Lynxville, Crawford County. Of these pearls more 
tban $10,000 worth were sent to New York within three months, including one worth 
more than $500, and some among them were equal to any ever found for beauty and 
coloring. The colors were principally purplish-red, copper-red, and dark pink. 

These discoveries led to immense activity in pearl-hunting through all the streams 
of the region, and iu three or four seasons the shells were almost exterminated. In 
1890 it extended through other portions of Wisconsin, especially Calumet and Mani- 
towoc counties, and appeared also in Illinois, along the Mackinaw River and its 
tributary creeks, iu McLean, Tazewell, and Woodford counties. The pearl fisheries 
of this State have produced at least $250,000 worth of pearls since 1889. 

At the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893 large and beautiful exhibits of 
pearls, with a great variety of tints, were a notable feature in the Wisconsin State 
building and elsewhere, as previously noted. 

The Northwestern pearl excitement subsided in a few seasons, as the others had 
done in turn before, by the exhaustion of the mussel beds and the consequent cessation 
of product. About every ten years or so a new wave of interest rises in connection 
with fresh discoveries at some point where the shells have lain long undisturbed; it 
again absorbs the attention and excites the imagination of the community around, and 
spreads to other parts of the country; a fresh campaign of ignorant extermination is 
carried on for several summers, then the yield is exhausted, and there is nothing 
more but to leave nature to recuperate, if possible, and slowly to restore, in limited 
amount, the abundant life that has been destroyed. 

The year 1897 witnessed a very widespread outbreak of the pearl mania, which 
extended through large areas previously unaffected by it, reproducing in the most 
marked form all the manifestations before seen elsewhere — the excitement seizing upon 
the whole population; the abandonment of the ordinary forms of steady labor; the 
flocking of thousands to the rivers and streams to gather Uuios; the wholesale 
destruction of the mussels until the locality was "cleaned out"; the extravagant 
ideas of the value of the choice pearls obtained, and the disappointment of multitudes, 
who imagined that every irregular nacreous concretion that they had found was a 
valuable treasure. 

The chief center of this excitement was Arkansas, which had never known it 
before. Thence it has extended west into the Indian Territory, and north into Mis- 
souri, while Georgia and portions of Tennessee have been largely affected. The press 
notices of all these, often highly sensational, led to more or less activity in other parts 
of the country. As the season was well advanced before the subject attracted much 
attention, it seems probable that the year 1898 will witness an unexampled furore of 
pearl hunting and that the shells will be practically exterminated for years to come 
throughout much of the Mississippi Valley. 

The portions of the State where the excitement has been most marked are the 
following: (1) A region of small "lakes," i. e., expansions of streams, situated chiefly 
in the southeastern part of White County, between White River, Cypress Bayou, and 



39fi BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

the St. Louis ami Iron Mountain Railroad) thence the excitement spread all up and 
down the valley of White River and its tributaries, passing into (2) the northeast 
portion of the Slate, along lilack River, Cache River, and the great lake like expanse 
of the St. Francis; (3) along the valley of the Arkansas and its tributaries from 
Little Rock eastward, and especially westward, to and into the Indian Territory, 
including mountain streams in Crawford County to the north and the valley of the 
l'ourche to the south; (4) in the southern part of the State, along the Ouachita, 
Saline, and Dorcheat rivers. Without entering into minute details, these may be 
regarded as t he chief pearl districts, but in various other parts operations were carried 
on to a greater or less degree. 

In one respect these Arkansas discoveries were novel and peculiar. A large pro- 
portion Of the best pearls were found not by opening the shells, but lying in the mud 
of the shores or at the bottom of shallow waters. Often, indeed, they were found in 
or upon the soil at some distance from streams or lakes. This peculiar occurrence is 
partly explained by the wide extension of the waters in Hood times over the low regions 
of the State and by the shifting of streams and isolation of "cut-offs"; but the facts 
indicate further that under some circumstances, probably of agitation by Hoods and 
freshets, the loose pearls are lost or shaken out from the Unios. A local impression 
prevails thai the mussels "shed" them at certain seasons. The fact that the pearls 
thus found were generally round and well formed; the aggregation in repeated 
instances of several or many near or together, and the non-occurrence of shells with 
I hem at these places — all point to the washing out of loose pearls from the Unios and 
their distribution by Hoods and freshets. So marked a feature, moreover, is their 
occurrence in the mud of the lakes ami bayous, that it is even proposed to employ 
steam dredges to take up the mud and pass it through sieves or other similar devices 
in the expectation of Eluding therein the pear] product of many generations of shells. 

Some of the more striking incidents of this mode of occurrence may be noted as 
follows: One of the latest announcements, in October, was that Mr. .). W. Mcintosh, 
of Lonoke County, while digging post-holes in the bed of Cypress Bayou, 3 miles 
south of the town of I'.ccbe. White County, found a number of pearls, some as large 
as a ••. I I caliber Winchester ball," at a depth of 1 A feet below the surface. The pearls 
were lying together, but with no sheiks. Mr. Mcintosh had refused a handsome offer 
for them, and was at last accounts still at work on his land. Another instance is that 
of a fisherman picking up a dozen pearls in a very short time by simply reaching over 
the edge of his boat as it lay by the shore of Walker Lake and taking them up from 
the bottom. Mi'. T. .1. Sharum, of Walnut Ridge, Lawrence County, which was the 
central trade point for the pearl-hunting along Black and Cache rivers, emphasizes 
the fact that the pearls taken from the mussels were chietly from young shells; hence 
it is believed that the old ones lose or "shed" them, and some propose to use a road- 
scraper next season to take up the mud and obtain the pearls that have accumulated 
in it. Many other accounts are given of pearls found on or in the soil, or in the mud, 
from the first main discovery in White County to various parts of the State. 

Arkansas pearls were by no means unknown before, but they had not attracted 
any attention. On the contrary, they had been picked up for years by the country 
people and used merely as playthings and " luck -stones" among the children, with no 
idea of I heir value. Some, indeed, had been gathered and recognized, but the diSGOV 
erers had kept quiet about them to avoid creating a "rush." Some twenty years ago 



PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 3!>7 

pearls had been found by a party of men who were cutting cedar poles on White 
River; in L888 a brilliant pear shaped pink pearl weighing 27 grains was found by a 
fisherman on White River and sold to Judge B. 8. 0, Lee, of Augusta, Ark., who had 
it mounted as a scarf-pin and has worn it ever since; in 1895 a surveying party on 
White River obtained pearls to the value (it is said) of $5,000; and country lads of 
the region have pearls in their possession up to 50 grains in weight, which they have 
picked up from time lo time and used as marbles. 

From these accounts it will be seen that the mode of pearl occurrence in Arkan- 
sas presents features somewhat different from those usually noted. Generally it has 
seemed that the sandy aud gravelly bottoms were most favorable for the pearl hunter, 
and the larger and older shells the most productive, while all the pearls have been 
taken from the living Ohios. Here, on the other hand, appear these novel conditions 
of the pearls beiug apparently lost or washed out from the older shells and lying in 
the mud bottoms or carried long distances by floods, while the younger shells, if the 
observation of Mr. Sharum be correct, are more apt to contain them. It will be inter- 
esting to ascertain more precisely the facts upon these points, to see if the loss of the 
loose pearls is a habit belonging to some particular species of Unios, and whether it is 
accidental, or how far the local tradition of "shedding" them has any basis in fact. 

Of course, if pearls were lost in these ways in gravelly or rocky streams, it is easy 
to see that they would soon lose their beauty by attrition among hard pebbles, and 
become indistinguishable from them, or be washed iuto the crevices of rocky beds; 
so that such pearls would scarcely be preserved or noticed, save in regions of mud 
bottom like those of the Arkansas bayous. It is clear also that only the rounded and 
perfectly free pearls would be lost in this manner, with the result that those found 
under such eondilions would present a very unusual proportion of large, well shaped, 
and hence valuable pearls, as compared with the ordinary gathering of them by open- 
ing the shells. This is precisely the case; the occasional pearls found at previous 
times, and those that first attracted notice and brought on the excitement, were of 
large size and round or well formed, and so brought high prices. Later, when almost 
the entire population at many points turned out, and all other work was abandoned 
for pearl-hunting, and the LTnios were gathered and destroyed by tens of thousands 
all along the streams through whole counties, great quantities of imperfect, irregular, 
and defective pearls were obtained, with only an occasional one of value. 

The pearl excitement of 1897 seems to have developed from several distinct centers, 
through accidental discoveries in the latter part of the summer as the water became 
low in the rivers, lakes, and bayous. Specific accounts of these separate starting-points 
have appeared in the local papers. The first to become highly important was the 
discovery of a good pearl on the muddy shore of Murphy (or Crooked) Lake, by a 
young man from St. Louis, who was spending his vacation on a fishing trip. Seated 
on a log, he noticed this bright object on the ground and, on picking it up, judged it to 
be a pearl. His negro guide told him that such objects were abundant at some points 
thereabout, and took him a mile or two through the woods to a spot where a number 
of similar pearls were easily picked up. The guide was amused at his interest in 
them, aud told him that they were of no use except as playthings for the children. He 
nevertheless gathered a quantity of them aud sent samples by mail to St. Louis and 
Memphis. In reply he was informed that they were true pearls, and the Memphis 
jewelry house sent him a checkfar beyond his anticipation. He then sent other parcels, 



398 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

and gradually the matter began to attract attention in the two cities named, until 
Mr. J. A. O'Hara was sent by a Memphis firm to investigate. On his arrival, he found 
the conditions to be such that he promptly forwarded his resignation to the house, 
and went into pearl-collecting on his own account. Hon. J. J. Williams, of Shelby 
County, Tenn., then visited the region, with experts from St. Louis. In three days 
they found over forty pearls up to "the size of an acorn," valued at several hundred 
dollars, generally perfect in form, the larger pink and the smaller white. Mr. Williams 
immediately arranged with Mr. George C. Griffiths, of Bald Knob, the owner of the 
land, for a lease of the property on which Murphy Lake is situated. A Memphis 
syndicate was formed, which claimed entire control of the waters, set up notices of 
warning against trespass, built a house on the shore, and proposes to make a complete 
and systematic exploration of the mud by means of dredges. 

The waters included in this lease are those of Murphy (or Crooked) and Walker 
(or Miller) lakes; these are bayous or expansions of tributaries of White Eiver, about 
100 miles west of Memphis. They are beautiful sheets of water, surrounded by a 
dense growth of cypress, and have long been favorite resorts for hunting and fishing 
for all the region around. Murphy Lake is about 2 miles long and some 800 feet in 
its greatest width; Walker Lake is only half as long, but much deeper, being 15 feet 
or more, even in low-water seasons, while Murphy Lake can be waded through at 
many points. The waters are somewhat impregnated with iron, and the district is 
reported to be malarious. The lease was drawn for five years, at the price of $4,500. 
As soon as it became known, much local opposition was aroused, and legal obstacles 
were interposed, on the ground that portions of the shore were Government land, 
school laud, etc., and that the lakes were part of a public waterway and could not be 
preempted. The Williams-Memphis syndicate had operated from Bald Knob, White 
County, which is the nearest town on a main railroad line (the St. Louis and Iron 
Mountain), and the opposition was especially developed at Searcy, the county seat of 
White County, some 10 miles west. A party from that place, headed by the mayor, 
with several leading citizens, went to Murphy Lake to insist upon their right to hunt 
pearls there, despite the posted notices of the lessees. Both sides were armed with 
legal papers to prove their claims, and with shotguns also — presumably intended for 
game. After considerable friendly controversy, matters were left to the courts, and 
the Searcy party withdrew to another neighboring lake, of similar character but not 
preempted, to conduct pearl-hunting there in peace. The Memphis company has 
remained in possession and been actively at work, the lake being guarded by an armed 
patrol, and illuminated at night by a chain of gasoline lights, to prevent trespassing. 
At last advices they were paying all expenses and making some profit, though no 
particulars are given. 

Other accounts of separate origin are reported from several points. An inmate 
of the Confederate Soldiers' Home, near Little Bock, while on a leave of absence, 
obtained some pearls on the Saline River; finding them to be valuable, he applied 
for an extension of furlough; and soon the story got abroad, and the furore began all 
along that stream. At the other end of the State, on Black River, a farmer while 
fishing opened a shell for bait, and found a pink pearl; this was late in July. A local 
jeweler gave him §25 for it and sold it iu St. Louis for $200. The craze broke out in 
consequence, and the Black and Cache Rivers were soon lined with pearl-hunters. 
About the middle of September Mr. J. M. Pass, a well-known planter, while fishing 
in Dorcheat Lake, Columbia County (the southwestern part of the State), opened a 



PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 399 

few mussels as an experiment, and obtained four good pearls; one of these be sold 
for $125, and tbe usual excitement arose through the entire neighboring region. 

In these ways the pearl-hunting mania was started, and spread from stream to 
stream. So complete was the absorption of the people in this pursuit, that the local 
papers at various points reported much difficulty and apprehension on the part of 
planters as to the prospect of getting in their cotton and other crops, all the farm 
hands and negroes being occupied in an eager search for the anticipated fortunes in 
pearls. By the middle of September the jewelers at St. Louis began to be flooded with 
letters and parcels containing Arkansas pearls. Everything in the shape of nacreous 
concretions was sent, and very often the whole lot was not worth the postage or 
expressage that it cost; and the extreme disappointment of the tinders, together with 
the clearing out of all the accessible shells from the "worked" streams, led to the 
decline of the craze. 

There is no question, however, that large numbers of fine and valuable pearls 
were obtained, especially by the earlier explorers. A few notes are here given as to 
the sizes and values reported. A general agreement appears as to the large pearls 
being pink in color, and the smaller white. This probably indicates two species of 
shells. One deep pink pearl of 40 grains found in the mud by a woman was sold in 
St. Louis for $100, and as it was perfectly round and of fine luster its real value was 
much more. A farmer's boy obtained a pink pearl of 31 grains on Black Biver, near 
Black Bock, Lawrence County, and sold it for $35. The local purchaser took it to 
St. Louis and there refused $75 for it, offered by a leading house, and left it for sale 
with another firm, who found a buyer for it at $500. This was doubtless excessive. 
Other instances have been mentioned above, and the St. Louis and Arkansas papers 
report numerous cases of pearls up to 40 grains, that were estimated to be worth 
several hundred dollars when perfect. By the end of August, Mr. Smith, of West 
Point, White County, had sold pearls to the value of $1,200, taken from Seven Mile 
Lake, somewhat south of the Walker aud Murphy lakes, and Mr. Thomas, of Bald 
Knob, had realized $1,500 from pearls from the Little Bed Biver. 

The region of the bayou lakes is reported to be unhealthy, at least for long-continued 
work in the water and mud, under conditions of exposure and fatigue such as pearl- 
hunting involves. Nevertheless, among thousands who camped out along the river 
banks for weeks during the autumn there does not seem to have been any frequent 
or serious illness. 

Passing to a brief reference to other States, allusion has been already made to the 
pearl mania as extending into the Indian Territory. In the early part of September 
reports began to come from South McAlester, on the Kansas and Texas Bailroad, of 
rich discoveries along the Kiamichi Biver, some distance to the southeast, aud large 
numbers of people went thither from Arkansas, reporting the White Biver aud its 
branches "cleaned out" and the shores covered with the opened and cast-away mus- 
sels. A little later quite a number of pearls, some reported as worth $100 apiece, 
were brought over the border to Paris, Texas, the county seat of Lamar County, from 
Boggy Biver, Indian Territory. Both this and the Kiamichi are northern affluents of 
the Bed Biver, in about the central-southern part of the Choctaw Nation. 

Louisiana does not seem to have been affected as yet, but it is quite probable that 
a similar excitement will develop there soon. A lady owning a plantation on the 
Tensas Biver obtained some pearls there before the war; she then set a number of 
little negroes to search for them, and thus procured others. Some of these were fine 
enough to be sent to New York and mounted in handsome jewelry. 



400 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

Kansas has yielded a few valuable pearls. Eleven lavender-colored ones were 
broughl to a leading jewelry house in St. Louis. The best was rated at $350, and 
others a! prices ranging from $50 to $150, the whole being worth $<i00. 

Missouri has furnished numerous reports; the earliest, at the beginning of Sep 
tember, came from Poplar Bluff, Butler County, in the southeastern part of the State, 
where a fisherman in opening Unios for bait found two line pearls, one pink and one 
straw colored. This was on Black River, already mentioned in its southward extension 
into Arkansas. The usual result followed, thousands turning out to search the stream 
A number were taken to St. Louis later, but most of them proved of little account. 

A fisherman living near Warsaw, Benton County, has been accustomed to briny 
into Sedalia, every autumn for live or six years, a little bag of pearls taken during 
the season from the Osage River. His annual sale has varied from $30 to $140. 
Other streams reported as yielding specimens are the PommedeTerre and the Sac 
rivers, and Medicine Greek, which rises in Iowa. Plans were on foot at Greenfield, 
Dade County, to dredge the Sac River in that vicinity and explore the mud. The 
latest account is from near Cuba, Crawford County, on the Meramec Itiver, where two 
fishermen, on an excursion from St. Louis in November, got a farmer to drive across 
the stream with his drag shovel. The result was that they obtained at one " haul '* 
three loose pearls and .501 mussels, which yielded L'07 pearls, up to the size of a pea. 
The proceeds were shared between the three parties, but the farmer, who owned the 
land, forbade any further operations. 

Tennessee, where for years past the whole subject of Cnio pearls has been familiar, 
has not been so much excited as the States where there was more novelty and less 
experience in pearl hunting. Rut while the former yield was chiefly along Stone 
River or Caney Pork, and then somewhat on the Calfkiller, Elk, Duck, and other 
tributaries of the Cumberland and Tennessee, and the main streams also in the cen- 
tral and western portion of the State, the last two or three years have witnessed 
great activity in a rather new district, in Bast Tennessee, along Clinch River. In the 
former region the business has settled down substantially to pearl-hunting in a 
moderate way by fishing parties in the summer, ami by farmers in the fall, who cam]) 
out on the river banks after the crops are gathered in and dredge the streams with 
some system. Along Clinch River, however, the past season has witnessed all the 
incidents of the first excitement; and quite vivid and picturesque accounts were 
published of hosts of people camping along the streams, some in tents, some in the 
roughest shanties, and some going from shoal to shoal in rudely-built house-boats. 
Many pearls are reported as having brought $100 or more. The hunters are described 
as a lively, free ami easy set of people, working hard all day, subsisting a good deal 
on fish caught in the river, and dancing at night to the banjo around the camp tires 
that line the banks. 

In the older pearl region of Tennessee considerable activity has prevailed along 
Duck Riser, and large prices are claimed. Much local excitement has also been 
announced from Smithville, Dekalb County, and Arlington. 

In Kentucky an aged fisherman is reported as having obtained a large number of 
pearls-one of them worth $70 — at the mouth of Little River, which enters the 
Cumberland in Lyon County. 

In Indiana a few discoveries in the central part of the State have led to consid- 
erable newspaper comment and some excitement. Toward the end of August some 
line pearls were found In White River only a few miles from Indianapolis. Prices 



PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 401 

were reported by jewelers in that city up to f 300. Others were taken from the Wabash 
and Eel rivers, and it is stated that the inmates of the Soldiers' Home at Marion, 
Grant County, made a regular occupation of pearl-hunting' in the Mississnewa, an 
affluent of the Wabash, and that two of them had realized $400 for their season's 
work. Some pearls were also obtained near Rushville, in Flatrock Greek, but no 
details were given. 

In Michigan a plan is on foot, organized by Grand Kapids capitalists, to engage a 
large number of laborers and operate systematically along the St. Joseph River next 
year. Many smaller schemes are also being planned. Multitudes of shells were 
gathered during the past season, and many good pearls reported from that river in the 
southeastern corner of the State. 

In Wisconsin the only important pearl discovery was reported from Janesville 
early in August, when two farmers found two pearls in Rock River, which they sold 
for $!i00 each. One of them was subsequently, it is said, sold in Chicago at a great 
advance. Beloit and Marinette are also mentioned as places where some interest has 
been developed. 

In Iowa two men who were exploring along the Mississippi for a pearl-button 
establishment, to determine the quality and abundance of available shells, obtained 
a few pearls in a small inlet below Bispiug's Spriugs. Only one was valuable. An 
interesting circumstance is that the pearl-yielding shells were found at the same spot) 
while hosts of others which they had opened and examined in the course of their 
business had no pearls whatever. 

Georgia has developed some interest, principally in the vicinity of Rome, at the 
junction of the Etowah and Oostanaula. This is believed to be the site of the Indian 
town of Ichiaha, where DeSoto stayed for a time during his memorable expedition of 
1540-41, and found the natives in- possession of so many pearls. The Arkansas 
reports stirred up a local excitement in this region, when the river became low and 
clear in the autumn, and multitudes went searching the waterways. Ex-sheriff 
Mathias, of Rome, is reported as having some 50 pearls, brilliant but irregular. A 
few miles above, on the Oostanaula, Mr. Bennett, a farmer, on reading of the Arkansas 
furore, made a trial on John's Creek, a tributary of the Oostanaula; and from a 
basketful of Unios he obtained several fine pearls, up to the size of peas, for which 
he received $180 from a Baltimore jeweler to whom he sent them. Others followed, 
and many fine specimens were procured. 

Florida has not yet been " worked," but it may prove a productive pearl region ere 
long. The reports of DeSoto's expedition make special reference to the size and 
beauty of the pearls at a point where he crossed the Oclocknee River, some 30 miles 
above its mouth. This place corresponds to what is now Langston's Ferry, Wakulla 
County, and there is little doubt that pearls may be found there now in the Oclocknee 
and its affluent, the Sopchoppy River. The banks are described as packed full of 
shells. Mr. Uoustou-n, a resident near that point, possesses some pearls, and speci- 
mens of them sent to the Philadelphia Exposition were much admired. Many pearls 
are reported as found worth from $30 to $00. The average size is about an eighth 
of an inch, which, when perfect, bring from $10 to $15. The two largest and finest 
weigh, respectively, 68 and 58 grains, and were sold for $850 and $000. 

Connecticut has also had its pearl fever, again as a result of the press accounts 
from the Southwest. In October Mr. C. S. Carwell, an old and well-known hunter, 

I<". C. B. 1897—26 



402 



BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



tried exploring about the headwaters of Mystic River, and after a few weeks had 
gathered ;i number of pearls, one of which he is reported as having sold for $500, and 
two others are estimated at ♦■KM) apiece. From the other end of the State, along 
the Shepaug River, in Litchfield County, conies an account of the success of Mr. Arlo 
Kinney, of Steep Rock. One fact here is of special interest. Mr. Kinney, instead of 
destroying every Unio that he examines, uses pincers, after the German method, to 
open the shell sulliciently to see if there is any valuable pearl, and then returns it to 
the water. If only this method, so simple and so reasonable, could be introduced 
throughout this country, enormous waste and destruction could be easily prevented. 
Crowds of seekers, however, attracted by the reports, have proceeded, here as else- 
where, in the usual reckless manner of wholesale destruction. 

In New York the pearl-hunting 
excitement has also been felt as a 
result of the prominence given in the 
papers to the Arkansas discoveries. 
The principal scene of activity has 
been in the northwestern angle of 
the State, along Grass River and its 
affluents, one of the streams that 
drain from the Adirondacks into the 
St. Lawrehce. The central point has 
been the town of Russell, St. Law- 
rence County. Two years ago Mr. 
. M. C. Rowe,of that place, on opening 
=r~ a mussel for bait, while fishing in 
Frost Brook, a tributary of Grass 
River, found a pink pearl as large 
as a pea. This he sold at a good 
price, and has since made several 
hundred dollars by collecting pearls 
water telescope in use. thereabouts. During the past sea- 

son there has been great activity, and multitudes have been pearl-hunting. 

The streams here are clear and rapid, and those who make it a business have 
special outfits for the work. A rubber suit is worn, consisting of boots and long 
trousers in one piece, with which they wade up the stream, each having slung about 
his neck a perforated tin-pail. To the face is strapped the "water telescope," i. e., a 
light square wooden box, open above and shaped to tit to the face, aud closed below 
with a piece of glass. The pearl hunter walks in a stooping posture, with the lower 
end of the box immersed, so that he can see the shells lying on the bottom, and take 
them with a "spud," or pole carrying at the end a pair of spring clasps or nippers. 




PEARLS AND PEAKL FISHERIES. 403 



INVESTIGATION BY THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



Iu view of the great interest and possible importance of the discoveries from time 
to time made in various parts of the United States, and particularly in the Mississippi 
Valley, of pearls yielded by the freshwater bivalve shells ( Unionicke) so abundant in 
many of our inland waters, a systematic inquiry was undertaken in 1894 by the United 
States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, to ascertain as far as possible the facts 
relating to the occurrence and distribution of the pearl bearing species and the extent 
and conduct of the pearl industry as thus far developed. The value and elegance of 
many of these pearls, especially as shown in exhibits made at the Columbian Exposi 
tion in 1893; the popular excitements or "pearl fevers" at times arising in districts 
where a few pearls have been found, and characterized by wholesale and reckless 
destruction of the shells over large areas; the total lack of system in the search for 
pearls, as contrasted with the methods that have been developed on a smaller but 
far more profitable scale in Europe, all seemed to call for a careful investigation by 
the Commission, with a view to better knowledge and wiser direction in the matter of 
inland American pearl fisheries. 

To this end a circular was prepared and issued in 1895, comprising a series of 
thirty inquiries relating to the habits and distribution of the shells, the frequency 
and value of pearls obtained from them, the methods and extent of the industry, ami 
various related points. This circular was sent out to several hundred persons in all 
parts of the country east of the Rocky Mountains, who could be heard ot as at all 
likely to feel interest or possess experience relating to the subject. The circular called 
for information on the following special points: 

The pearl-bearing mussels : 

1. Nature of stream iu which found; kind of bottom; character of water. 

2. Geological character of the district as to rock, soil, etc. 

3. General abundance of mussels. 

4. Size, shape, and position of the mussel-beds. 

5. Local names of mussels. 

6. Habits of mussels. 

7. Enemies and fatalities to which mussels are exposed; nature and extent of destruction by 

muskrats, hogs, freshets, etc. 

8. Size, shape, and color of mussels. 

!). Species of mussels in which pearls are most common. 

10. Proportion of mussels in which pearls occur. 

11. Sizes, or other peculiarities, of shells iu which pearls are found. 

The pearls : 

12. Nature and origin of pearls. 

13. Positiou in mussel. 

14. Size, shape, and color of pearls. 

15. Relative value of pearls in different sizes, shapes, and colors. 

16. Markets for pearls. 

17. Prices for pearls. 



404 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

The fishery: 

is. Method <>t' taking the mussels. 

l!i. Description of apparatus used in taking mussel* and in opening the shells 

20. Mel ii"cls of extracting the pearls. 

21. Treatment of pearls when found. 

l"J. Utilization of mussels after extraction of pearls or after opening. 

2'.'\. Principal occupations of mussel fishermen. 

LM. Statistics of fishery : Fishermen, l>oats, apparatus, pearls. 

25. Comparative statistics of pearls, etc. 

26. Period when pearl-fishing was of greatest importance in district. 

27. History of origin and growth of fishery. 

28. Exhaustion of mussel-beds; causes, rapidity. 

'_'!!. !><> exhausted beds become replenished, and in what time.' 
30. Is State protection of the beds desirable or necessary f 

To this circular L23 responses were received, besides a few that were so abso- 
lutely indefinite and obscure as to possess no value. The replies came from the 
following States— more than half of tliem from Tennessee, where of late the greatest 
activity lias prevailed. ' 



Alabama 1 

Arkansas 3 

Florida 1 

Illinois 3 

Indiana - r > 

Iowa ti 

Kansas 3 

Kentucky 2 

Maryland 2 



Massachusetts 1 

Michigan 1 

Mississippi 1 

New York t 

Ohio 1 

Pennsylvania 1 

Tennessee 74 

Texas 6 

Wisconsin 8 



These responses contain a large amount of valuable information. Many of 
them are furnished by persons not at all in the habit of writing, but who are evidently 
very familiar with the facts through much experience and observation. The general 
results are quite clear as to some of the points, and conflicting as to others; this last 
condition is easily seen to be due to local differences in the very wide area covered, 
and to the fact that the species of T T nios and, to some extent, their habits are different 
in the different sections of the country. A great desideratum seems now to be a 
scientific determination of the particular species referred to in these reports and 
designated by vague or fanciful local names. 

To the first, inquiry, relating to the nature of the stream and the character of the 
bottom and of the water, only four of the papers failed to respond more or less fully, 
though only a part of them include answers to all the three points in the question. 
In summing up the results, the first, second, and third points may be considered 
together, with the following result: Thirty-nine papers report the stream as swift, and 
7 as slow ; 31 give the water as clear, and 2 as muddy; 15 mention it as shallow, and (! 
as deep, and 22 refer to it as being more or less "hard." A number of the answers 
are less easily classified, describing different streams in the vicinity, or the same 
stream at different points and different seasons, as varying in depth and in the rate 
of flow. As regards the bottom, many papers report several kinds, as sand or gravel, 
or both, on a rock bottom, or areas of mud with rock or sand, etc. The most definite 
statements may be grouped as rock, .'55; gravel, 7(i; sand, 4i); mud, 32, including a 
few references to clay. 

The general indications from these data are quite plain, to the effect that the 
shells are chiefly found in rather rapid streams, in which the bottom would naturally 



1 It will be noticed that all these responses were sent before the pearl excitement of 1897, in 
Arkansas and adjoining States, described on pp. 3D5-401, above, in which some new and additional 
aspects were developed. 



PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 405 

be sandy or gravelly and the water clear. Other species, however, occur on nuuldy or 
clayey bottoms, where the current is slower. The references to rock bottom do not 
concern so much the immediate! sin lace where the shells are found as the underlying 
bed on which the softer materials rest. In the matter of depth, also, the large pre- 
ponderance of answers in favor of shallow streams may mean not so much that the 
I'nios greatly prefer shallow water as that they are more readily found and gathered 
there. The frequent allusions to "hard" or calcareous water fend to confirm the 
general impression that streams of this kind are favorable to the development of 
molluscan shells in both size and abundance. 

A lew references to peculiar conditions may be noted, e. //., the Florida paper 
states that the best 1'nio growth is found in lakes with outlets, the water pure and 
fresh, but adds that it is sometimes sulphurous. Oik; Texas paper (Colorado, Concho, 
San Saba, and Llano rivers) refers to the water as becoming slightly alkaline in dry 
times, and another (Colorado and Llano) makes a similar statement. A New York 
paper ( I>e Grasse Biver and Plum Brook) mentions the water as brown or black — the 
dear, brown water of hemlock districts, familiar in northern New York. Iowa and 
Indiana papers state that spring-fed streams seem to be most productive of I'nios, and 
a New York account, describing them as found in rapid, gravelly streams, over lime- 
stone lock, adds that they are most abundant where the country has been cleared, "as 
the water is apt to be harder there." 

The second inquiry, as to the geological character of the district, its rock, soil, 
etc., has been answered in 95 papers, more or less fully, (hough some refer only to the 
nature of the soil, or are otherwise incomplete. Of course no very exact scientific 
accounts could be looked for in such a body of responses, and the statements given 
are, for the most part, of a general character, though some are more detailed, and a 
few specify the geological horizon of the rocks at the localities described. Dividing 
the answers into two sets, one for the country rock and the other for the soil, they 
may be; summed up as follows: 

Country rock : Limestone, 09; sandstone, 21; slate (and shale), 9; "flint" (or 
chert), 7. A few others are mentioned, viz: The Florida paper reports only "sand 
overlying (day or hardpan" (sand cemented by iron oxide), and Mississippi "only 
sand, gravel, and mud; no rock." New York reports "iron-ore"; Pennsylvania, "coal," 
and Texas "limestone and granite." In many eases two or three of the rocks above 
named are mentioned in the same paper as associated in the region. 

Soil: Sand, .'54; clay, 19; loam, 10; and a few other designations, as "mixed,'' I ; 
"black," .S; "calcareous," 2, etc. In many cases two or three of these kinds are named 
together, as "sandy and clayey,'! " sandy loam," and the like. 

The inference from these data is closely corroborative of that from the first 
inquiry — that a limestone region is favorable to the development of I'nios. The nature 
of the soil seems to be of little or no importance in relation to the shells, as compared 
witli the underlying country rock, outcropping or exposed in the river bottoms or 
along the bluffs. An Iowa paper remarks that "the presence of lime gives greater 
luster to the pearls," and several allusions point to a general impression as to the 
advantageous character of a calcareous region. 

The principal geological references are the following: An Arkansas paper specifies 
the rocks of the district as "the magnesian limestone of the Lower Silurian, and 
cncrinal marble and chert (Devonian); soil calcareous, with more or hiss sand." The 
Ohio paper gives limestone ami some shales, of Niagara, Clinton, and Cincinnati age 
(Silurian). One Tennessee circular refers to the Lebanon group (Lower Silurian) and 



4U6 



BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



another to sub-Carboniferous aud Trenton. Two of the Wisconsin papers mention 
limestone underlain by Potsdam sandstone and associated with St. Peter's sandstone. 
Of course the rocks of the Mississippi Valley are for the most part well known, and 
the particular horizons here mentioned, so largely confined to the earlier Paleozoic, 
can have no special significance in the present connection, as only the chemical com- 
position of the rocks could affect the abundance of the Chios, if, indeed, the limestone 
theory be as important in this respect as is generally believed. It may be observed 
here that in several papers which make no mention of limestone or specify other rocks 
instead (Illinois, Michigan, and Texas, sandstone; Florida aud Mississippi, sands and 
clays) there seems no dearth of Unios in the streams and lakes. 

Out of 107 papers which respond definitely to the third inquiry, as to the abun- 
dance of mussels, 10 describe the shells as at present very abundant, 47 as plentiful, 
36 as scarce, and 4 as absolutely exterminated, while 34 papers refer to the fact of 
diminished and diminishing numbers within a few years past, some of them with great 
emphasis. Three Tennessee papers estimate the present numbers as reduced to one- 
tenth of what they were ten years ago, and in a number the same general fact is 
stated — of former abundance aud present rarity — and attributed to the pearl hunting 
destruction of recent years. Several papers say that the shells are now scarce in small 
streams and the shallower parts of larger ones, while still abundant in deep water 
and where the currents are strong. The answers in detail are as follows: 

General abundance of mussels. 



State. 


Very 
abundant. 


Abundant. 


Few. 


Dimin- 
ished. 


Extermi- 
nated. 


No. of 

papers 

reporting. 




1 
3 










1 
3 

1 
3 
3 
4 
1 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
3 
1 
1 
06 
5 














1 












1 
1 

1 


1 
2 
1 

1 


1 






1 
2 
1 
1 
2 




2 






























1 










1 
1 


















1 


1 

1 

1 

28 

1 


1 
1 




















l :u 


21 
2 

4 


1 
1 
1 






3 

1 


Wisconsin 

Total 


l 




9 


48 


36 


34 


4 


106 





In response to the inquiry as to the form, size, and position of the beds, the answers 
are very various, indicating much diversity of conditions, depending evidently on the 
species of shells and size and character of the streams. A Wisconsin report states the 
river to be " nearly all mussel bed for 100 miles." A Tennessee report states that shells 
lie scattered over the bottom and not in beds, and reports from Iowa and Massachusetts 
make similar statements. Some 30 papers give estimates of the size of the beds, 



PEAELS AND PEAKL FISHERIES. 407 

varying extremely; several describe tbe shells as occurring in small patches of a few 
feet square, but the large majority agree in giving the beds an elongated shape, 
either along the banks or on shoals in midstream. In the smaller rivers they extend 
all across, up to a width of the stream of 100 yards (Tennessee). The length of these 
beds is estimated at from a few yards to several hundred, or in some cases a mile or 
even 4 miles (Arkansas). They are in some cases reported as upon sandy or gravelly 
bottom, in shallow water of moderate swiftness, and a few speak of the shells as 
wedged. in among the crevices of rocky or stony bottoms. Very few refer to still water 
or mud. 1 

In two papers (Florida and Illinois) some of the shells are described as in the 
bank, from 1 to i feet below the surface of the water. This occurrence is peculiar, 
and it would be of interest to ascertain what species possess this habit. 

In several instances the shells are reported as packed side by side on the bottom 
so closely as to be like a pavement (Tennessee and Wisconsin), and sometimes several 
layers deep in places where there are "holes" iu the bed of the stream (Wisconsin). 

The Florida paper states that in lakes the beds extend around the shore, their 
breadth determined by the depth of the water. 

There is a general agreement that the midstream beds are upon shoals or connected 
with islands, bars, or rapids. But the detailed statements vary, some placing them 
above and others below rapids, and likewise as to islands. Evidently they occur for 
the most part in places where there is a moderately rapid flow, but somewhat protected 
from the full force of strong currents. Some interesting particulars are given. One 
paper (Tennessee) says that the shells lie in beds from shoals up to deep water, where 
there is rock bottom, and then in crevices in the rocks; and two others (Tennessee) 
are somewhat similar. Another (Tennessee) reports them as usually at the head of 
an island above the "breakers," usually opposite the bluff side. An Iowa paper speaks 
of the beds as extending along bold banks until the current changes to the opposite 
side, i. e.. on the swifter (convex) sides of the curves. The author of a Maryland 
paper states that the beds vary in location with the varying distribution of the sand 
and mud of the bottom, the shells traveling correspondingly if the changes are not 
too sudden. One paper from Texas refers to their seeking and occupying positions 
where they are best protected from the force of the current in freshets. 

It is clear, from all these varying accounts, that the location of the shell-beds is 
determined by conditions which depend on the size and the rapidity of the stream 
and the nature of its banks aud bottom; the main requisite being water of a very 
moderate depth, flowing freely but gently, and so producing almost always a sandy 
or gravelly bottom. In shallow streams these conditions would extend all across; in 
larger ones they would be found near the shores, or associated variously with islands, 
bars, and rapids. In slow streams, the shells would naturally be found on the convex 
sides of the curves, where the swifter current erodes the banks; in more rapid ones 
they would seek the slower portions of the river, aud avail themselves of the shelter 
of islands, etc., as a defense against the violence of freshets. This last agency is 
spoken of by several, in the answer to another inquiry, as being highly destructive, 
especially to the younger aud the smaller shells; hence, those without the protection 
of some, island or shoal above them would be most liable to be swept away and 
destroyed in flood time. 

1 But du this point, see pp. 395-397, above, as to mode of occurrence iu Arkansas bayous. 



408 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED BTATES iisii commission. 

in regard i<> the i< m-h l names <>r mussels, an Immense variety of responses was 

received, [n 00 papers L2 report simply ' ssels"; L0, "clams"; 1, "clam-mussels"; 

L, "oyster-dams"; and 5, "fresh- water clams." The rest are either desoriptive names, 
« 1 1 1 4^ bo sinue feature of form or color, or else purely fanciful appellations. Arkansas 
reports black mussel, white mussel, long white, shorl while, long red, thick-shell (or 

flint), oyster sliell, wrinkle shell, anil bedded mussel. Ohio sends long-pointed elam, 
round small clam, rOUgb slone elam, bottle sliell, striped bottle shell, blue edged shell, 
paper shell, razor back, pumpkin -seed, and bastard. Pennsylvania (also Wisconsin, 

in i paper) gives two kinds, pearl mussel and common mussel. An Iowa circular 

says thai the name "clam" includes some thirty varieties. Tennessee furnishes n 
host of names, black (24), while (18), yellow (II), pink (15), purple (I), blue (4), black- 
pink(l), lake (24), bullhead (18), hard tack (6), Hilled (7, including 2 called black- Milled), 

biscuit (9), she (10), rock (4), shark (3), heel splitter (8),M"igger Dick (2), and one each 

of (lie following: gray, brown, red, broad a\c, Black Maria, sailaway, trigger-back, 

spike, gunboat, hatchet, thin shell, deep water, pookel book, hawk-bill, fancy, speck-case, 
Jessie Oook, Dick, negro-heel, four of these — the purple, Black Maria, hard lack, and 

sailaw u\ are also reported from Ken lucky. One paper identities the "biscuit" and 
" black " mussel ; one makes the "lake" I he same as I lm "rock," and another the same 
as the " blue" ; Ihree identify the "lake" with the " Muted," and two mention them as 
distinct. One report says of the "bullhead" that there are several kinds of them. 
\\ iscousin gives also ipiilo a lisl — crinkly (2), horse foot or soft-shell, heart-shaped or 
hard shell, mullet shell, rough hard shell, checkered or purple-shell, smooth soft-shell, 
paper shell, lone; blue, slipper sliell, oblong pink lined, broad stripe, and Mother 

Eubbard, 

The scientific collector of I'nios can easily conjecture from some of these names 

what speci< v s may be meant, but most of them are altogether Indefinite tor any pur- 
pose of recognition, Many of them doubtless are applied in different localities to the 
same shell, while ol hers may be used lor different ages and varieties of identical species 

in a single stream, it is highly desirable that specimens should be obtained of 

these variously designated shells in order to their scieiililic determination. 

The question as to the habits Of the mussels was answered more or less definitely 
in 60 papers. Most of these describe the shells as somewhat migratory in habit, 
aooording bo various conditions, as to food, season, depth of water, etc Only 7 (<> from 
Tennessee and t from Wisconsin) report them as almost entirely stationary. Six 
papers relate thai at the approach of winter they withdraw' from the shore into deep 
water and bury themselves several inches in the sand or mud, reappearing in the 
Spring when the water is high; then, as Ihe water tails, others relate that they follow 
it, seeking apparently a uniform depth. Similar migrations follow upon disturbance 

of ihe beds by caving of the bauks (Texas) or other natural ohanges. Three papers 

refer to the young shells as more active than the old ones, and this is probably the 

meaning also of a statement (Tennessee) thai the pearl bearing shells are stationary 

and those that crawl of little value. Three papers refer to their being packed so 
olosel] side by side on the bolloni that they can scarcely dislodge themselves to move 
about ( Wisconsin and Tennessee). One report (Tennessee) Says thai while some arc 
lying on the surface of the bottom the "yellow mussel" is in beds three layers deep, 
under gravel and sand. The Florida paper describes one species as living permanently 

in the Bides Of banks, sometimes above the water, and a similar statement is made in 



PEARLS AND PEAKL FISHERIES. 409 

an Illinois response, only that the shells are from 1 to 4 feet below the surface. One 
paper describes them as moving shoreward in the morning and back into deeper water 
later in the day (Illinois); another as feeding in the morning and evening (Iowa), and 
another as active at night and resting by day (Tennessee). In an Iowa paper they 
are reported as coming into shallow water to spawn in midsummer. 

Here, again, is evidence of much diversity, according to the species and to varying 
conditions. Hibernation, by burying themselves at the approach of winter, is an 
interesting feature that scorns in some cases well attested, though a Kentucky paper 
states that no difference has been noticed between winter and summer. The younger 
shells are clearly somewhat migratory, but the tendency of the older ones is in many 
cases, where they have found a secure and favorable bedding-ground, to become 
closely massed together by gradual increase of size, so that dislodgment or moving 
becomes difficult. 

The responses to question 7, relating to the natural enemies of mussels, in 11(1 
papers, are varied and interesting, and in some respects quite contradictory. The chief 
natural enemy of the Unios seems to be the muskrat. Ninety-eight papers refer to it, 
40 reporting large destruction from this cause, 55 in some degree, and .'. denying any 
Hogs come next, and are referred to in <>7 papers. Of these, !) hold them responsible 
for large destruction, 50 for some or a little, and 8 assert that there is none. < >f ol her 
animals, raccoons are stated in 11 papers to destroy some shells; mink in (J (N'ew 
York, Iowa, and Wisconsin); mud turtles in 3 (Wisconsin); otter in 2 (New York and 
Iowa); crows in .'i (Tennessee) ; fish in 3 (Maryland, Ohio, and Texas); crayfish in 2 
(Maryland and New York); aquatic birds in 2 (Florida and Illinois); bears in 1 (New- 
York), and cattle, by trampling, in .'5 (Maryland, Indiana, and Iowa). All the animal 
depredators deal only, or chielly, with IJnios that are either young, small sized, or 
soft-shelled, and hence not largely pearl-bearing. The only exception to this general 
rule is the statement in one paper (Tennessee) that many pearls have been found 
where shells had been taken ashore by muskrats and left to open in the sun. 

With regard to physical causes of injury the most serious, no doubt, is found in 
freshets. Of 39 papers that refer to these, IS report, great destruction thereby, IS say 
''some" or "a little," and 3 deny that there is any. Some papers say I hat their injury 
is small and that they only shift the beds and redistribute them, but a number 
describe the burying of beds by washing down and caving in of banks in Hood time 
or the stranding of groat quantities of young shells, to perish when the water subsides. 
Two papers that do not mention freshets should doubtless be included here, however, 
as they speak of destruction caused to the shells by "covering with mud" and by 
"change of bars." On the other hand, low water and droughts are reported as seriously 
harmful in 7 papers and drift ice in 4. Three papers allude to disease as a cause of 
injury and 3 to boring parasites. 

By far the most dangerous foe, however, is man, as his activity in pearl-hunting has 
nearly exterminated the shells at many points and greatly reduced them at nearly all. 
Twenty-six papers make mention of human agency as a destroyer, 11 of which regard 
it as the most serious and some as the only one of moment. Even where pearl-hunting 
has not yet extended, large numbers of IJnios are used by fishermen for bait. 

Questions 8 and it were answered in a large majority of the papers, but in a manner 
so general and indefinite that little can be derived from them for a report. The 
answers to question 8 are chiefly unscientific statements as to sizes and colors that 



410 BULLETIN OV THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

do not indicate the species with any precision, while those under question 9 have the 
same uncertainty, as the terms employed to designate the shells most prolific in 
pearls are the local and popular names already mentioned under the head of question 5. 

In response to question 10, as to the proportion of shells in which pearls are found, 
the answers vary so much that no general result can be gathered from the estimates. 
This extreme diversity is due in the Hist place to the fact that no standard meaning 
is attached to the term "pearls," some of the papers including any such objects found 
in the shells, while others confine the answer to those that have marketable value. 
This, of course, involves very great differences, as the small and irregular pearls are 
somewhat common, while those of good size, form, and luster are, by all accounts, 
very rare. Other differeuces are due to natural causes, the productiveness in pearls 
varying with different species, different conditions, different streams, and different 
years. 

The estimates given in 78 papers which undertake to answer the inquiry range 
from 1 pearl in 20 to 1 in 100,000 (Iowa). A paper from Michigan and one from Ten- 
nessee give a ratio of 1 in 20; five give 1 in 50, nineteen 1 in 100, five 1 in 200, two 1 in 
300, five 1 in 500, ten 1 in 1,000, and so on up to 1,500, 3,000, 6,000, 10,000, etc. Many 
state that the proportion varies iu different streams; thus a New York paper says, for 
the main branch of De Grasse River, 1 in 3,000; for the north branch, 1 in 500; and 
for small brooks iu the neighborhood, 1 in from 300 to 800. Others refer to differences 
in different species; thus a Tennessee circular gives 1 pearl in 5,000 of the "yellow" 
mussel, 5,000 to 0,000 of the "rock" or "lake" mussel, 8,000 of the "biscuit," and 10,000 
of the "black"; in other species even scarcer. This is for pearls valued at $25 and 
upward. Others allude to differences in seasons; thus the Maryland paper states 
that 5 bushels of shells yielded 3 pearls in 1888, while none were obtained from 100 
bushels in 18S9. Several papers make no attempt at an estimate, and simply state 
that valuable pearls are "scarce" or "very scarce." 

Iu the auswers to question 11, as to whether the pearl-bearing shells display any 
distinguishing peculiarities of size or form or other features that may indicate the 
presence of pearls within, the same diversity appears, iu some respects, that has been 
noted under several of the previous heads, and for the same reason, no doubt, viz, 
differences of locality and of species. Eighty-eight papers make more or less response 
to the inquiry; of these, 17 are undecided or indefinite; 11 state positively that there 
are no criteria; 14 say that pearls occur chiefly in large shells, 32 in medium-sized, 
and 8 iu small; 3 state that the presence of a large pearl is indicated externally by 
a bulging or protuberance of the shell (New York and Tennessee), or by a ridge 
(Tennessee); 8 refer to some peculiarity of form as indicative, but rather vaguely, 
and 2 (Tennessee) observe that the shells appear to have been injured at some time. 
Several refer particularly to old or old-looking shells, ajid to those of rough aspect or 
moss-grown, while a New York paper specifies "the brightest and clearest." Many 
state that young and small shells contain no pearls of value, as would naturally be 
expected. Several mention particular kinds as the best, using the local names; but 
these answers belong properly under question 9. 

Question 12, as to the nature and origin of pearls, in the view of those familiar 
with their occurrence in the fresh-water mussels, has brought out a general agree- 
ment among the majority of those who respond, in favor of the usual theory that 
they are due to the presence of some irritating foreign substance. Other views are 



PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 411 

presented by some; and several writers send observations of rather curious interest. 
Only 51 of the papers answer the question at all, of which 30 pronounce more or less 
positively in support of the intrusion theory, as above mentioned; 8 are doubtful or 
non committal; and 8 advocate the view that pearl production is due to injury or 
disease. Three paj)ers (Illinois and Tennessee) state that the pearls are at hist soft 
or gristly and acquire hardness and luster gradually later; and one from Texas reports 
finding them in various stages of growth before they were "glazed over." The 
Florida paper, wbile accepting the intrusion theory, claims that all valuable pearls are 
t formed upon an egg which the mollusk has not succeeded in extruding. This sug- 
gestion might easily be thought to afford explanation of the peculiar statements in 
the four papers just referred to. 

Interesting notes are given in an Indiana response, where the writer speaks of 
finding a little twig in a shell "partly petriticd" (i. e., pearl-coated!), and in an Iowa 
paper, where the writer refers to finding grains of sand and gravel partially coated 
with pearl nacre. One paper affirms that they were "originally created" with the 
mollusk, and bases this opinion on the fact that large pearls are found in small shells, at 
least sometimes. One paper (Indiana) which advocates the theory of injury refers 
to the fact that the pearl-bearing bed is close to a steamboat-landing, and considers 
the frequent disturbance of the water as a favorable condition. It is apparent, 
however, that this fact might operate quite as effectively in behalf of the intrusion 
theory. 

Question 13, as to the position in which pearls are most frequently found in the 
body of the mussel, is answered by a very large proportion of the responses, and with 
a good deal of variety, though the general results are pretty clear. A difficulty con- 
spicuous in these answers is the lack of detiniteness in the terms employed to denote 
the parts of the shell and the body — the words varying much in the use of different 
individuals and affording a striking illustration of the value of exact scientific terms 
as compared with ordinary phraseology. Notwithstanding this fact, however, it is 
not hard to ascertain what is meant by most of the writers, and indeed many have 
expressed themselves very clearly, and only in a few cases is the real meaning 
obscure. 

To this question 112 answers have been received; several uncertain or indefinite — 
some merely saying that the pearls are found between the mantle and the shell, or 
similar expressions of an indeterminate character; 10 refer to them as occurring in or 
near the hinge, but most of these also state that such pearls are rarely valuable 
or well-formed, being generally "slugs"; 44 specify the borders of the mantle as the 
chief location for free and valuable pearls, in or near the edge, some saying between 
the mantle and the shell, others implying a position (obscurely expressed) between 
the mantle and the gills; 39 state that the pearls are chiefly found at the posterior 
end of the shell ("thin end," "sharp end," "small end," " tail end," "point," etc.), 
cither "in" or "under'* the mantle, or between it and the shell, as before. Four 
give little sketches to illustrate this statement (Kansas, Tennessee, and Wisconsin). 
Several refer to them as occasionally found in various other parts of the body, "in the 
meat," etc. Three papers (Indiana and Tennessee) speak of them as covered with 
or "incased in" a soft transparent substance; and two refer to pearls as sometimes 
imbedded in the shell (Wisconsin) or growing so as to "form a socket" in it (Iowa); 
this fact is well known, though of rare occurrence. 



412 BULLETIN OP THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

Frequent allusion is also made to pearls attached to the valves of the shell, 
or Matteued on one side against them, forming "button pearls," but rarely of much 
value. 

A peculiar statement is made in a New York paper in connection with this and 
the preceding question. The writer believes that pearls originate from sand grains 
taken in at the mouth, passing into and through the intestines, and lodging in the 
outer edges of the mantle, there causing irritation. Here the larger ones remain, 
while very small ones "pass on and go into a white substance, which I have called 
the pearl bag." 

It is evident from these accounts that there is no proper reason for the wholesale 
destruction of Uuios that has been practiced in many parts of this country, where 
the pearl-hunting "fever" has extended. Nearly all pearls of any value lie near the 
edge of the shell, and their presence could readily be ascertained by the use of tbe 
little instruments employed by pearl-seekers in tbe rivers of Scotland and Germany, 
and the shells not bearing pearls be returned to the water without injury, to propagate 
their species and, perhaps, themselves produce pearls in succeeding years. 

The answers to question 14, as to the sizes, shapes, and colors of pearls found, 
are full, varied, and interesting. Nearly all of the papers reply to the inquiries more 
or less, so that the list of answers numbers 122, more than under any other head; 
although a good many of them are indefinite, and many speak only of some one or 
two of the points covered by the question. 

As to the sizes, some of the responses are given by dimension and others by 
weight. Among much variety there is a fairly general result expressed to the effect 
that the maximum size for round or shapely pearls is about half an inch in diameter 
and about 80 grains iu weight. Of course, they range downward to very small sizes, 
sometimes called "seed pearls," and often compared to pin-heads, bird-shot, mustard- 
seed, etc., and many of the papers assign much lower limits than half an inch for the 
maximum size. Of the papers that describe the larger sizes, several say half an inch, 
five-eighths, seven-sixteenths, etc., and others refer to a bullet, a marble, a large buck- 
shot, and the like, for comparison. A few even exceed these statements, one paper 
saying that pearls range from the size of bird-shot to 90 grains and even 100 grains 
(Tennessee); another (Texas) saying that round pearls are found larger than a 
buckshot, and button-shaped up to the size of a quarter dollar and "up to one inch" 
(Tennessee), while the Ohio paper refers to the irregular "wing pearls" as in some cases 
over 2 inches long. About one-fourth of the papers are indefinite, saying that the 
pearls are of "all " or "various" sizes, shapes, and colors, with no specific data. 

As to form, there is a very general agreement in describing the ordinary forms of 
pearls under various designations. The usual terms employed are round, button- 
shaped, and pear-shaped. Other descriptions are oval, half-round, biscuit-shaped, 
egg-shaped, etc. Many refer to rough and irregular pearls, while others omit these 
as having little or no value, and hence evidently not regarded as worth mentioning. 
Several speak of the spherical pearls as most valued, then the hemispherical, and then 
the oval. All this, of course, is familiar. 

In regard to color the answers are interesting, as showing the peculiar feature of 
Unio pearls — their wonderful variety of tint. Many papers merely say that they 
are of "all colors," "various," etc., but three-fourths of them, either under this head 
or the next, specify certain colors as most frequent, most prized, rare, etc. In 89 of 



PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 



413 



Yellow 


10 




Green 


5 


Copper 1 


Steel 


5 




Wine 


3 




Lavender 


3 




Brown 


3 

3 


Salmon 1 


Gray 


Rose 1 


Ruby 


2 


Slate 1 



these, some of which enumerate a variety of tints, the following colors are mentioned, 
giving a fair idea of their relative frequency: 

White 61 

Pink 53 

Purple 29 

Black 23 

Blue 21 

Red 16 

Gold 12 

Bronze 10 

Of these, copper, cherry, maroon, and ruby colors may be referred to red, and, 
perhaps, in some cases wine color also; gray, steel, and steel-gray belong together; 
also, bronze and brown; and rose will fall under pink. Yellow may be placed with 
gold, and probably wine color; all these last are presumably from the beautiful Unio 
dramas, the only species, or at least the only frequent one, that presents a yellow or 
golden nacre in a portion of its interior. The frequent reference to blue is sur- 
prising, especially from the terms used by several in characterizing the shade. Six 
speak of sky-blue, four of steel-blue, one of lead-blue, and one of peacock-blue (Wis- 
consin). One Wisconsin paper also refers to peacock-green as especially valuable, 
as also lavender. A few allude to the varying degrees of translucency notable in Fnio 
pearls, referring to some as " clear," to others as " milky," and as "bone white" (opaque). 
One (Tennessee) speaks of them as occasionally "clear as crystal." Only two make 
any discriminations as to the occurrence of different colors, other than their compara- 
tive frequency or rarity. Several say that they are of various colors, according to the 
shells whence they are taken, and a Tennessee paper specifies that white ones come 
from the "yellow" mussel and steel-gray ones from the black. 

The impression produced by reading this account is very strong as to the peculiar 
interest and value of the Unio fauna of the Mississippi basin, in reference to this pro- 
duction of many-colored pearls and the importance of preserving it from the reckless 
extinction which is threatened by the present rude and wholesale methods of pearl- 
hunting, in which the shells are destroyed by thousands, for want of some simple and 
judicious process, such as older countries have devised and applied. 

The responses to question 15 are a good deal intermingled with those to question 
17, and, so far as they give actual values or prices, have been incorporated in the 
summing up of the answers to that inquiry. Question 15 properly deals only with 
relative values of different sizes, shapes, and colors; and therefore these points alone 
have been considered in drawing up a summary of results. Many of the answers are 
extremely general, referring only to the fact that values vary according to size and 
quality; others give simply prices, which, as above stated, are included in the report 
on question 17. Of 1)0 papers responding, 61 give more or less data belonging strictly 
to the question, 37 of which refer to the shape chiefly, and 33 to the color, several to 
both and to other points of quality. 

So far as shape is concerned, nearly all these agree in giving the first place of 
value to spherical pearls, then to hemispherical and "button-shaped," then to oval 
and pear-shaped. Several speak of the small and "seed" pearls as of practically no 
value. One gives the "biscuit" pearl as the most prized (Tennessee); this of course 
arises from some local circumstance. A Tennessee paper gives a valuable statemeut 
to the effect that, compared with a spherical pearl taken as unity, a "button-shaped" 
one of equal size and quality is worth about two-thirds, and a "pear-shaped" pearl 
somewhat less. A Tennessee correspondent states that rare-colored pearls are twice 



414 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

the value of white, and that a 20-grain pearl is worth live times one of 10 grains. 
Three papers (Arkansas, New York, and Tennessee) state that one-eighth ineh in 
diameter is about the lowest limit for salable pearls. 

As to quality, several answers affirm that (of course) only the pearls that are 
"clear" or "brilliant" have any market value. 

In color, the responses vary a good deal, and it is difficult to derive any general 
agreement, from the fact that while several mention two or three colors as especially 
prized, only a few specify which of them is the most valued. Of the 33 papers that 
report, 10 specify pink as either first, or among the first, in estimation; 4 refer to red, 
2 as the most valued; G to black, 3 rating it as the best, and 4 to yellow or gold color; 
while, singularly enough, another paper (Tennessee) states particularly that there is 
no sale for yellow or black; 5 refer to blue, 2 of them rating this color as first and 2 
as second, with pink first. Other colors especially named are lavender (Wisconsin), 
purple, steel-gray, white, and peacock green (Wisconsin). 

Evidently the prevalence of certain species in certain districts, the accidents of 
pearl discovery here or there, and a variety of local and temporary conditions, must 
enter into such estimates, and would doubtless yield different results in different 
years or series of years. 

Question 16, as to the "markets for pearls," was answered in 98 papers, the rest 
being indefinite or not responding at all. Out of these, 92 specify New York, 43 
mentioning no other, and 47 adding one or several more. Of other places, Chicago 
comes next, being specified in 10 papers (Wisconsin, Iowa, Tennessee, Alabama, and 
Texas); then Philadelphia in 14 (one New York and the rest Tennessee); and next 
Cincinnati in 10 (Tennessee 8 and Texas 2) ; Milwaukee is reported in 8 (Illinois, Iowa, 
Kansas, Wisconsin) ; Nashville in 5 (Kentucky and Tennessee) ; St. Louis in 4 (Arkansas 
and Tennessee, each 2) ; and Louisville in 3 (Tennessee). Two papers mention Boston 
(Iowa and Tennessee); 2 Atlanta, 2 Carthage, and 2 Smithville (all Tennessee), and 
1 each the following places: Washington (New York); Memphis, Knoxville, Mur- 
freesboro, Tenn.; Elgin, 111.; Asheville, N. C; and Jersey City, N. J. (all Tennessee). 
Several make general statements as to "any large city," or include Londou, Paris, 
etc., from merely public repute. Several specify firms or dealers by name, in New 
York, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, etc. A Texas paper reports some pearls as sold in 
"Old Mexico." 

Question 17, as to the prices obtained for pearls, has been answered more or less 
in 80 papers. Of these, 18 are uncertain or indefinite, merely saying that prices vary 
greatly according to size and quality, etc. The remaining 07 give figures which, 
however, are extremely diverse and can hardly be analyzed or tabulated with any 
definite result. This condition arises partly from the different methods of stating the 
values. Some give simply maximum and minimum prices, obtained or reported, with- 
out specifying size, color, or quality; others give prices for only certain kinds and 
sizes, and others again report the values by weight. Some also include the very small 
pearls, and others confine their account evidently to those that are marketable singly. 
From this varied mass of data only a few general statements can be deduced. 

Tennessee and Wisconsin are the only States that report any very high prices, 
save in a few cases from Texas, Arkansas, Indiana, and Iowa. The small pearls — 
t hose less than a tenth of an inch — are sold in lots for a few cents apiece. The Florida 
paper reports selling 10, of one eighth of an inch, for $5, au average value of a little 
over 30 cents; a Maryland paper mentions a brilliant one of the same size as bring- 



PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 415 

ingfl; and a New York circular states that a pink one of that size is worth $5. 
Most of the little ones, however, are averaged at 5 or 10 cents in quantity. From 
these lower limits the values rise with great rapidity as the sizes increase, till single 
pearls reach to hundreds of dollars, and in some cases thousands. The limits reported 
range all the way from a maximum of a few cents to $1,000 (Tennessee, 5 papers); 
$2,000 (Indiana and Tennessee); $3,500 (Tennessee); $8,000 (Wisconsin), and even 
$10,000 (Tennessee, 2 papers); but no other States report anything above $300 (Iowa), 
and $250 (Texas). The estimated values per grain, either given in the papers or 
calculated from prices mentioned for pearls of specified weight, range from $1 to $75 
(Wisconsin), and even $100 (Tennessee and Texas), but rarely exceed $15 or $20. In 
these extreme cases just mentioned the pearls must have been overvalued. Numerous 
cases occur where pearls have sold locally for many times more than they were worth. 

To consider a few of the most definite statements, the first undoubtedly belongs 
to the remarkable "sky-blue" pearl from Caney Fork, Tennessee, which was sold 
for $950, and subsequently brought $3,300 in London. The same papers (Tennessee) 
that refer to this, also state that the adjacent Cumberland River, into which Caney 
Fork flows, has produced no pearls of more than $25 in value, though both streams 
have been very largely searched. One Tennessee paper reports a round pink pearl 
as having brought $050; another, which mentions $1,000 as a maximum value, adds 
that 30 cents and $700 are the actual limits of price obtained at that place. A Wis 
consin paper states that $30 a grain is the highest price obtained by the writer. One 
response (Tennessee) gives $12 as the value of an 8-graiu pearl of good quality; if pink, 
however, it is $18, and if yellow, $20 — illustrating the differences in value for color; 
another (Tennessee) mentions $20 as paid in New York for a fine pearl of G grains, and 
$300 for one of 314 grains; and another (Tennessee) gives $500 as the value of a pearl 
of 40 to 50 grains. 

One paper from Iowa states that the finder generally gets from one-tenth to one- 
fourth the value of the pearl. Two Tennessee papers refer to the business as far from 
profitable, one saying that it does not realize an average of a dollar a day, and another 
that the writer thinks of giving it up as not worth while at the prices obtained. 

Question 18, as to the method of taking the shells, is answered in 105 papers. Of 
these a number say merely that they are gathered with the hands, while 40 mention 
or describe some form of instrument as used in the deeper water. A Kansas paper 
states that the method is to pick them up along bars, etc., but the usual process 
indicated is to wade into the stream and take the shells from the bottom by hand, 
sometimes feeling for them and detaching them with the feet. In some cases a scoop 
or shovel is used. They are then thrown into a boat, canoe, or floating tub and taken 
ashore. In deeper water several speak of diving for them, but generally some form 
of rake or tongs must be employed — of course, with boats. Various descriptions are 
given, several mentioning simply a rake, " clam rake," or " mussel rake," others saying 
"oyster forks" or (Illinois) "a 6-tined fork bent in rake shape." This method is the 
principal one reported in Wisconsin, and an account is given of "rakes," made for the 
purpose, about 20 inches long, with 6-inch teeth, "and a wire netting on the other 
side to hold the mussels when raked up" (Wisconsin), and of a "garden rake with a 
wire basket back of the teeth, and others, similar but heavier, made by a blacksmith" 
(Wisconsin); and again (Iowa), a garden rake is mentioned "for sounding the bottom 
and driving away the mud turtles." Another description is "a rake in the shape of 



416 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

a pitchfork," with five or six prongs a foot long aud a handle 5 or 6 feet in length 
(Tennessee). Massachusetts reports "a wire dredge." 

Several speak of "grubs" aud "grabs," and of tongs "like a blacksmith's, only 
longer" (New York); and a peculiar combination is described and sketched, in a 
paper from New York, as " a rake with springs, which seize the clam." Two Tennessee 
papers allude to other methods, one describing a straight rod with a sharp thin piece 
of iron on the eud, which is "pushed into the crevice of the mussel," the valves 
evidently then closing upon the intruder with such force as to allow the shell to be 
drawn up thereby, aud the other speaking of a " spike," which may be used to a depth 
of 10 feet — probably the same process; both of these are reported as available only 
in quite clear water, obviously. Another New York paper makes an interesting 
reference to the use of the "water telescope," as a box with a glass in the bottom. 
The deep-water gathering is of course conducted with the aid of boats or skiffs, which 
are brought to the shore when filled; or iu some cases, it would seem, the shells are 
opened and examined in the boat, though this is not positively stated. 

Question 19, as to the apparatus used in opening the shells for examination, received 
102 answers. Nearly all describe some form of knife, many referring to the common 
kinds by name, "case knife," "pocket-knife," "table-knife," "jack-knife," etc., or by 
describing it as "a short, stout knife," or more frequently "a long knife," "thin bladed 
knife," etc. A Maryland paper specifies "an oyster-knife." A hammer, a hatchet, a 
long-bladed dirk, and "anything with a point" are also mentioned, alone or in con- 
nection with a knife. A few describe the method, one or two speaking of cutting 
through at the hinge, one or two of cutting the adductor muscles, whereupon the 
valves open. A paper from New York says: "Cut the forward muscle (anterior 
adductor) and then pry open until the finger can be inserted." 

It will at once be seen that the methods are the rudest aud simplest, and involve 
the destruction of every mussel that is examined for pearls, whether yielding any or 
not. No instance is reported of any use or knowledge of the partially opening tools 
employed in Scotland and Germany. 

Question 20, as to the mode of extracting the pearls, when found, received 93 
answers. A large proportion of these are very general, merely saying " by hand, " with 
the fingers," etc. ; but about one third give more or less description of the process. 
When the shell has been opened, the pearls, if loose aud near the edge, may be readily 
seen, and sometimes even drop out. These are of course easily taken out with the 
thumb and finger, or, if small, with tweezers (Arkansas), or on the point of a knife 
(Tennessee). If more embedded iu the mantle and gills, they are detected by feeling 
for them, passing or rubbing the thumb or finger along and around each valve and 
about the region of the hinge. The pearls may then be pressed or squeezed out "like 
the seed out of a cherry" (Tennessee); but if attached to the shell, must be removed 
with a pair of nippers (Iowa) or a hammer (Tennessee). Care is required in opening 
not to scratch or injure the pearl (Wisconsin). A few describe different methods; thus 
an Arkansas paper speaks of breaking shells, and a Florida paper tells of piling the 
mussels in a dry place to decay and finding the pearls in the emptied shells later. 
This method is evidently practicable only where little "pearl-hunting" is generally 
carried on, and where the pile of shells would not be liable to inspection and search 
by other parties than the original gatherers. 

Question 21, concerning the treatment of pearls when found, received definite 
answers in only 78 papers, which iu some respects show considerable diversity of 



Bull. U. S. F. C. 1697. (To face page 402.) 



Plate IV. 





B C D 

SALMON-COLORED PEARL. WEIGHING 14! PEARL GRAINS, LYING LOOSE WHERE IT WAS FORMED IN A SHELL. 

FROM LINN JUNCTION, IOWA 

he pearl is nearly hemispher.cal, or '■ button-shaped," somewhat one-sided, but perfect above. It occupied a depression at the posterior end of the 
right valve, and had caused a marked outgrowth or protuberance of the other valve. 

A. Interior view of the right valve, with the pearl in place. 

B. The same valve with the pearl removed, showing the depression where it had lain. 

C. Trie pearl itself taken out. 

/>. Exterior view of the left valve, showing the protuberance corresponding to the pearl. 



U. S. F. C, 1897. (To face page 402 > 



Plate V. 




I Inte if shell showing barrel-shaped adhering pearl of l 




li. Exterior of same valve of shell. 



ilui; (l :. I C 189 ' ' i ■ ps IOJ.) 



I'l All VI 





A TYPICAL UNIO OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY TYPE, SHOWING EXTERIOR OF RIGHT VALVE AND 

INTERIOR OF LEFT VALVE 

i full :-,i.' but i ' I i ' opldew i but little lad at the baal 






Bull. U S. F.C.I 897 (To face page 402.) 



Plate VII. 









m 


■■ 




■WBK-Jrtr*t- 








^^H 




sL •»>'•'• ." " 


**~r r ^ ^Bfc 








^B 


• 


■ "* 


^v.^» 










~~^- liiWESS^ ' 


. 


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^- - 


iS^HV ..^^ 




^^^ ^^N "•i 










^^^^ 


. 












■■1 


■■ 




LEFT VALVE OF UNIO RECTUS, OUTSIDE AND INSIDE VIEWS. 

The latter showed an extremely irregular mass of rich purplish nacreous matter, with many protuberances, lying between the hinge and the anterior 
' adductor impression, and part y occupying the space of the latter. The shell is almost entirely white. The pearly pertuberan;es at the right of 
the hinge are of a rich puiple color. The shell is puie white. 



PEARLS VND PEARL I- IS! 1 1. 1; IKS. 117 

usage. The pearls are flrsl thoroughly washed, to remove all adhering animal mat 
fcer, and two papers speak of using alcohol to complete the cleansing. After this the 
i utial point in keeping or carrying them is to prevent injury to the surface from 
friction; and the majority of those who describe what is done tell of wrapping in 
cotton (20) or soft paper (12), cloth, flannel, or silk, several speaking of drying them. 
or keeping them dry. lint others would keep them in a liquid, sis specifying a bottle 
of water, and one (Wisconsin) sweet oil or coal oil. Several speak of putting them 
into a bottle, bnt with no accouul of it.-, contents, or whether even dry, though an 
[ndiana writer- mentions cotton in a bottle, and a Tennessee correspondent ■> vial with 
lint; hence in the cases ju-t referred to it i- impossible to judge as to the probable 
meaning. Three papers mention keeping pearls in starch, one (Tonnes ee •• in Irish 
potato." and one 'Tennessee, in powdered magnesia. The effect of sunligbl is curiously 
alluded to, live paper- Maryland, New fork, and Teune ee) tating that the pearl 

Should he carefully kept from it, and one | New York) that they -hould he kept in it. 

Bighl Tenne <■<■ papers make interesting references to "peeling" dull and 
unpromising pearls, merely saying that this is sometimes done '-with a sharp knife" 
and a nice pearl obtained thereby; alcohol, whiting, chamois leather, etc., are said to he 
used to produce a lustrous surface. Three of her papers allude to polishing or- cleaning 
pearls (Tennessee), one specifying that it is done, "with Irish potato." Two papers 
say nothing under this head of treatment, save that there is no way to improve upon 
nature. Sere evidently the purport of the question was not clearly understood. 

The answers to question --', ;e to what, if any, use. 01 dispO al 18 made of the 

shells after being examined for pearls and tin- animal- destroyed, give ;i painful record 

of the, utter waste of an enormous amount of material useful and beautiful for- many 

purposes in tin- arts. The question is answered in '■>■> papers, with a. melancholy uni 
formity. In only 17 of them is there anj nggestion of utilization of the shells, and in 

only I of the use of the animals other than a lish bait, manure, or' food for hfl 

Thirty-two answer.- say simply that, there is no u-c made of them or that they 

are "wasted" or- -thrown away"; 13 say that they are thrown in the water, and 8 add 

that the fish eat them, and also the mil i rat and turtle,: U -peak of then being D -er| 

for fish-bait, ID for feeding bogs or poultry, and '■!■ for manure. Several merely say 

that they aie left lit) the bank- oi - li>.a I- for rat-, minks, and crows to (lis pose of. 

A paper from Iowa state- that tin- -lull- are utilized for button making and that 

Some people USe the animal for soup. The actual use of the -hell- for button i- also 

referred to in 7 paper- Iowa. Te - ee. ami Wisconsin and their possible value foi 

that purpose i- noted m f otlni papers, though they are not -o used as yet. 

pp. 425-426.) A Wisconsin paper- -ays that a few are polished foi ornamental pui 

poses; other circulars (Wisconsin and Tennessee contain similai tatements, adding 

that they an- also u-ed to pave garden walks and sometimes burned for lime. This 
latter u-e. foi lime, i- referred to also by '■> Ten lie-see papers a actual or po--ible. and 

I says thai they mighl be "ground to cement," and I from Wisconsin note thai ome 
are gi ound up for poultry . 

On the other hand, an Iowa writer states that ■■ verj few peai I are found in the besl 
button shells" and one ju Tennessee says that the shells are too brittle foi button 

When it is remembered that the native tribe- of both North and South America 

made large use of the river ire an article of food, as also some of tin- sold 

P.C.I M 



IIS BULLETIN OP THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

during the Late civil war, ii seems extraordinary that only one instance of any attempt 
so in utilize them should appear in these accounts; and it is very remarkable thai the 
shells, so capable of being wroughi and polished into an immense variety of beautiful 
objects of ornamental art, should be almosl uniformly thrown away and wasted. 

Question 23, as to the principal occupations of the pearl-hunters, is answered in 
si papers. Of these, 17 say merely that their occupations are various, or that people 
of all callings are included. The remaining <>7 papers state, more or less definitely, as 
follows: Farmers and farm-hands, 35; laborers, 12; fishermen, 12; and as making 
pearl hunting a regular business, 8. Three papers speak of "loafers," and one or two 
each specify as follows : Stockmen, hunters, trappers, tradesmen, roustabouts, boys, 
and negroes. One refers to women and children, and the Maryland papers to oyster 
men. The term "laborers," as used in those answers, probably means in most cases 
farm-laborers, as stated in a tew instances; and the indication is that two-thirds of 
the pearl-hunting is done by agricultural people, who search the streams when not 
otherwise occupied, " in oil' times," " fall," or "late summer," as several of the papers 
say. Fishermen naturally often combine pearl-hunting with their ordinary calling;, 
and unoccupied persons of all kinds turn to it as affording a possible resource instead 
or in default of regular employment. The references to negroes, only mentioned as 
such in two (Tennessee) papers, are curiously lew; and it seems that they, for some 
reason not apparent, engage but little in the business. Many of the farm-hands and 
fishermen, however, may be colored, although it is not so stated. 1 

Questions -f and 25, as to statistics of the pearl fishery during the year previous 
to the report and former years, respectively, received so few answers that no definite 
results can lie gathered from them. The tew data that are given would afford no 
estimate of the extent of t lie indusl ry or of the act ual commercial value of its product. 

Question 26, as to when the pearl industry was of most importance, has received 
more or less definite answers in about two thirds of the papers. The others either 
fail to make any statement or employ terms so vague as to be of no significance. A 
number answer by giving the time of year or stage of water, not understanding the 
purport of the inquiry, and a few say that the yield does not vary much from year to 
year. Of 80 papers that give definite or approximate dates for the time of chief 
activity, only 27 mention or include the recent years (i. e., 1894-1897, when the reports 
were written), though several more do so by implication, using phrases like "since 
L890," or '-not before L891." Several state that the yield has diminished within a lew 
seasons past ; II papers specify v cars bet ween L890 and 1S!)7, inclusive, and 1!> between 
isso and L890. One Tennessee paper gives 1878-1884 ; an Iowa paper gives 1878-1890, 
and the Ohio paper says L860 to L890. The 8 Wisconsin papers give years from 
L889 to L892, two referring to thousands of dollars' worth of pearls as taken in 1890, 
winch seems to have been the year of maximum yield. The Texas dates are rather 
earlier, two papers giving L886 and L880 1886, respectively, though one says 1893. 
For Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, and Pennsylvania the dates all 
range between 1890 and L894, and chiefly since L892, the search lor I'nio pearls having 
apparently been taken up since and in consequence of the great discoveries in Wis- 
consin, although in some cases it had a strictly local and independent origin, as shown 



1 It is of some interest to note the faot Unit in [owa two well-known pearl-hunters are Indians : 
On-a-wat at Montour and John Mus-ke-mo al Nonotaker, Tama County. In their oases ma.i perhaps 
be seen the ooutiuuauoe, to the present day, of an anoestral habit, whioh is proved by the abundance 
of Unio peai is in ancient moundB and by Hi" traditions of the early explorers of North Amerioa from 
! In' I Line of DeSoto down. 



PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 41!i 

by answers under the next head. In Tennessee it has beeu carried on at different 
points since 1880 and even 1878. 

The twenty-seventh inquiry, concerning the history, origin, and growth of the 
pearl- fishing, is answered in less than one-fourth of the papers; only 35 reply to 
it at all, and 5 of these are entirely indefinite. Several merely give the year when 
pearl-hunting began, with no incidents or data otherwise. A lew allude to it as 
diminishing (Tennessee) ; or, when of late origin, increasing (Tennessee ami Iowa). 
The circumstances connected with the origin of the pearl industry, as reported in a 
few of the papers, are of considerable interest, and may be put on record as follows: 
Arkansas reports that in is«!) two pearls were found in one shell, inquiry showed 
that some twenty had been found from time to time previously, and the facts weie 
then published in the newspapers. An Indiana paper states that the first interest 
arose- from accidentally finding a valuable pearl in opening a shell. The Maryland 
paper refers it to a newspaper article, about 1885. Texas reports a pearl discovered 
in opening a mussel for bait; the crops had failed that year, and pearl hunting was 
widely taken up. Three Tennessee papers date the first excitement from what is 
evidently the same incident, related with slight variations, that in L880 a fishing party 
came from Murfreesboro, one of whom was a jeweler. He found a pearl in opening a 
mussel for bait, and sent it to New York, where it was sold for a handsome price. 
Other responses from the same State give somewhat similar accounts, probably of the 
same circumstance. A Wisconsin paper states that in 1890 a Norwegian disclosed 
to a few persons the fact that In- had been finding pearls for some years before. An 
interesting and isolated statement is made in a Tennessee paper that, the matter 
was "brought into notice of the people here (Clinton, Tenn.) by button manufacturers 
having the shells gathered here/' and that it has been kept up by "hard times." 

Question 28, as to the exhaustion ofthc mussel beds, its causes, and its rapidity, has 
called forth a very suggestive body of replies in 77 papers. The other papers make 
no response, or none that is at all definite. Ten papers report extermination of the 
shells, either actual or imminent, within a very few years past; 23 speak of rapid 
diminution in their numbers; 2.'3 of decrease as noticed and in progress; 13 are uncer 
tain, or report little or no change; 6 describe them as abundant or •■inexhaustible,'' 
and •"> refer to partial recovery or replenishment after reduction. In 56 out of 77 
papers, therefore, or approximately three-fourths, the process of exhaustion is recorded, 
at times already complete. Of these. 29 state the cause as pearl hunting, mainly 
or wholly, and 10 papers refer to other agencies — 2 or 3 each to high or low water, 
deposits of sand or mud. ice. boats, hogs, and rats. Of the 7 answers from Wisconsin, 
where so many pearls of remarkable beauty were found in the early '• nineties," 5 
report the shells as nearly or entirely exhausted, and 2 refer to rapid reduction, due 
bo ignorant and careless persons taking tin; small and young shells as well as those 
more likely to contain pearl8. A Tennessee paper alludes to the same reckless habit, 

and estimates the shells remaining as about 5 per cent only of the number in former 
years. The destruction of the young shells is also mentioned in Indiana. In New 
York it is stated that a good pearl-fisher can "clean out " a bed of 500 shells in a day: 
the Ohio paper speaks of hundreds being opened daily, and an Iowa writer states 
that the river will be exhausted in two years. Of those that speak of little change, 
several remark That not much is known or done in regard to pearls at their localities. 
Of the l that allude to recovery, one (Tennessee) says that the beds are cleared out 
about every two years and renewed in four; another (Tennessee says that they 



42<) BULLKTIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

become exhausted yearly and re-bed in one or two years; still another (Tennessee) 
states that the shells return every year, but in less numbers; and one (Texas) reports 
that many beds that had been worked out are recovering, through the growth of the 
young shells that were left unmolested. 

The twenty ninth inquiry, ;is to whether exhausted beds recover and in what 
time, is closely conuected with the preceding one. It is unanswered in 25 of the papers 
and !> others report no knowledge or opinion on the subject. Eighty-eight replies 
are given, of which several are indefinite and conjectural. Out of about 80 papers, 
therefore, or two thirds of the whole, 20 report the belief that the beds are replen- 
ished from year to year; 8 in one or two years; 4 in two or three years, and 4 in 
four years; 6 name periods between four and eight years and 7 between eight and 
twelve years; 1 gives twenty years; 1 gives twenty-five, and 2 estimate the recovery 
as requiring a century or more; 4 papers say that many years are necessary; say 
''a few'' or ''soon"; 4 report no exhaustion as noticed, and report no recovery. 
Several papers are indefinite or uncertain. Two of those that give estimated dates 
for recovery do so with au expression of doubt ("if at all," "if ever") as to whether it 
really occurs. A Tennessee paper says that the shells return each year, but in less 
numbers. As it is customary, more or less, to leave the young and small shells, the 
question resolves itself largely into two, viz, how far they have been carefully spared 
and how long it takes them to attain their growth. This last probably differs in 
different species, as is intimated in some of the answers, and it may also be influenced 
by various external conditions. Another Tennessee paper estimates the recovery as 
slow, from the fact, previously brought out very markedly, that the young shells are 
those that are most exposed to all natural enemies and accidents. A New York 
paper, which thinks that there is no recovery, states that few young shells are found. 
A Texas paper says that young shells are found in two years, but contain no pearls, 
and another from the same State says that many beds are recovering by the growth 
of the young that were left before. On the other hand an Indiana paper states that 
when a bed has been worked out pleuty are found the next season, and an Iowa paper 
reports young shells abundant everywhere. One of the papers from Tennessee probably 
gives a very fair average statement, to the effect that the beds recover somewhat 
every season, and would, perhaps, recover entirely in a few years, if not molested. 

The concluding inquiry, as to whether State protection of the beds is desirable or 
necessary, is answered with more or less definiteness in 97 papers, and. as might be 
expected on such a subject, with much diversity. Fifty-nine of the responses see no 
need or advantage from protection and 33 favor it. One or two fail to understand 
the purport of the question clearly, and some hold that while not necessary now it 
may be so in the future. Two or three say that it would be difficult or impracticable. 
A few of the answers may be referred to more particularly. Of those that do not 
favor protection, 2 (Michigan and New York) think it not worth while or desirable 
to preserve the TJnios, the latter curiously remarking that "the water would be purer 
without them." One Tennessee writer seems to hold a- similar view, saying that 
protection is not desirable, though it is necessary to the preservation of the shells; 
another, failing to appreciate the question involved, opposes protection " because pearls 
bring in a great deal of money, and the mussels are of no use." Two or three think 
that the shells are inexhaustible and in no danger of extinction. Of those that favor 
the suggestion, 1 from Indiana states that it would be well if no shells were taken 
<br five years: the < >hio paper advocates it "if the mussels are to be preserved." ( >ne 



PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 421 

paper from Tennessee alludes to tbe value of the shells for pearl buttons as a reason 
for protection, and 2 others from the same State advocate a limitation as to not 
opening young shells. A Texas paper expresses the belief that -'it would give gen- 
eral satisfaction to all the landowners on the stream on which the shells are found." 
This plainly alludes to the trespassing by pearl-hunters on farm lands along the 
streams as a source of annoyance to proprietors. 

The general conclusions most clearly brought out may perhaps be summed up as 
follows: The shells are most abundant in swift and clear water, where the bottom is 
sandy or gravelly and the country rock calcareous. While still numerous in many 
streams, they have greatly diminished within a few years past, wherever the pearl- 
hunting enterprise has extended, and are at some points nearly exterminated. The 
pearls found are few, and those of marketable value represent the destruction of 
thousands of shells for every pearl obtained. No use is made of this often beautiful 
mateiial, which is simply thrown away and lost, although for buttons and ornamental 
articles it would be admirable. The methods of gathering the shells and extracting 
the pearls are the simplest and most primitive, and the activity of a few seasons 
generally exhausts the beds. 

This state of affairs is one that calls loudly for reform. The wealth of Unios 
that fills our rivers aud streams is rapidly being destroyed by ignorant and wasteful 
methods of pearl-hunting, aud either some form of protection is important, or, if 
that be not possible, a wide diffusion of information as to better methods, and 
particularly the introduction of the tools used in Germany for opening Unios far 
enough to see if there are pearls contained, without destroying the animal, which 
may then be returned to the water. 

The whole question is curiously suggestive of the similar conditions in respect to 
forestry and lumbering; the apparently inexhaustible natural supply; the reckless 
prodigality and waste of such resources by mau; the rapid diminution and impending 
extinction which it would require years of care aud labor to restore; the foresight 
and remonstrance of the few and the indifference or opposition of the many, as to 
any limitation or protection designed to preserve the natural resources; and the ease 
with which they could be preserved by a few simple and intelligent modes of manage- 
ment once established and made familiar to the people; and the pressing importance 
of some such action in place of the post nan diluvium policy at present prevailing. 

The question of legislation in such matters is always very difficult, both in pro- 
curing and enforcing any restrictions. But it would be most desirable to impose 
some limitations to prevent the wholesale destruction that is now carried on. Such 
limitations should aim to prevent the taking of young shells at any time, and establish 
"closed seasons" occasionally, when the Unios should have a chance to remain undis- 
turbed. Of great importance, also, would be the description aud explanation of the 
opening-tools that are used abroad, and the inculcation of their use upon pearl hunters 
in this country, so as to avoid needless destruction. 



422 BULLKTIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



FRAUDULENT AND ACCIDENTAL INTERMIXTURES WITH PEARLS. 



lu the small lots and packages of pearls that are sent to commercial centers for 
purchase or valuation, quite a variety of foreign objects are found, some of which 
have evidently been introduced with fraudulent intent, while others have got among 
the pearls accidentally, and were evidently mistaken for pearls. 

Among the former are regular artificial pearls, i. e ., hollow heads of thin glass 
tilled with wax or other composition; also ground pieces of pearly shell or attached 
pearls that have been cut from the valve and rounded and polished on the defective 
side — occasionally rounded and cut entirely out of the shell itself, and of no value. 
Frequently the round, hard lens of a fish's eye is found in parcels of pearls. 

lu the second class may be mentioned natural growths found in the shell resem- 
bling brown pearls; translucent, but consisting not of nacre, but of couchioline — the 
material of the hinge and ligament. These are sometimes handsome and lustrous, and 
occasionally iridescent, but, of course, are not pearls and have no commercial value. 

A third class of doubtful character consists of metallic objects that sometimes 
strongly resemble pearls, and may have been introduced either by intention or by 
accident. Such are small shot and steel spheres from ball bearings; these, when 
bright, look much like the darker and lighter gray pearls, respectively, and are quite 
frequently encountered. 



USE OF L1NI0S AS FOOD. 



Indications point to the use of I'niosasan important article of food by the Indian 
tribes at the time of the discovery of the country, and occasionally by the white 
explorers. This practice probably prevailed for ages, in both North and South 
America, back to the time of the Mound builders. It seems, however, remarkable 
that SO little use has been made of these abundant shellfish by the whites; and the 
question is worthy of attention, whether we have not here a reads and valuable 
source of food supply throughout large areas of the country remote from the sea and 
its products. There seems no reason why these mollusks should not be palatable 
and nutritious, and such is the testimony of the few who have tried them. 

While sailing down Canadian rivers on their rafts, lumbermen collect (Tnios lor 
food by fastening bushes to the rear of the raft so that, when they pass through the 
mussel shoals where the rivers are shallow, the bushes touch, the shells close on the 
leaves and thin branches, holding to them securely, and at intervals the hushes arc 
taken out and the I'nios removed. In the same way we have the fact, referred to 
by Professor Kan, that the I'nios of the Tennessee River were sometimes cooked and 
eaten, as a change of diet, by the soldiers of the Army of the Cumberland during the 
civil war, as stated by Dr. Brinton. They might even serve an important purpose in 
preserving life, in the case of exploring parties or travelers becoming lost in a region 
where other food was not procurable. 



Bull U, S, F, C. 18!)/. I I" ' pa ' 



Plate VIII. 




PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 423 



PEARLS AND PEARL-BEARING SHELLS IN ORNAMENTAL WORK. 



Efforts to make the river mussels of Germany available in ornamental work have 
met with much success. In 18.">u Moritz Schmerler conceived the idea of making small 
fancy articles of the shells themselves, and succeeded so well that the Saxon Govern- 
ment allowed him to take from the royal beds the shells he needed for his manufactur- 
ing business. Large numbers of pearl shell pocketbooks and hand satchels have been 
made since then. The almost faultless white and reddish tinted "rose -pearl mussels" 
are specially prized for this purpose, as the shell material may be cut so thin that a 
photograph pasted inside can be seen through the shell, conveying the appearance 
of being produced on the shell itself. Other manufacturers engaged in the business, 
and many hundred thousands of the pearl mussels are now annually used at Adorf. 
where the business is chiefly carried on. The principal sources of supply are brooks 
in Bavaria and Bohemia that are owned by private persons. Here is a suggestion 
as to the possibilities of our American river shells. They are now occasionally pol- 
ished for ornaments, and, with their pearly iridescence and varied shades of white, 
cream, pink, salmon, and purple, are objects of great beauty; but thus far they are 
almost unknown and unused in the realm of decorative art. 

Some beginnings have been made in this direction in the United States, but only 
enough to indicate how much might be doue. At the Mammoth Cave, there have 
long been sold as souvenirs to visitors little pocket-books and match-safes made from 
cut and polished Unio shells from the adjacent Green River, and they are often 
exceedingly pretty articles. Very lately a leading jewelry house in New York has 
begun to use polished Unios for small jewel cases: they are brilliantly pearly and 
when lined with velvet are well adapted for such purposes, especially as used for 
fresh-water pearl jewelry. 

In 189.3, at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, a large amount of mate- 
rial was shown, illustrating the actual and possible uses of fresh water pearls and 
pearl shells, and especially of our own Unios. As these exhibits were scattered 
through various public and private displays in several of the buildings, it may be well 
to bring together here a brief summary of the whole. 

At the Tiffany Pavilion in the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building there was 
a collection illustrating the. occurrence of pearls and the various pearl bearing shells 
and mollusks— notably a series of several thousand odd-shaped and curiously formed 
pearls, pearl blisters, and hinge pearls from the Unios of Wisconsin, Texas, Tennessee, 
and Ohio. In this collection were found round, oval, oblong, and mallet shaped Unio 
pearls; two pearls ingrown into one another; pearls consisting of scarcely more than 
a blister, others formed of a single nacreous layer with a central arc of clay, and 
other curious and abnormal growths of interest to the naturalist, but of little com- 
mercial value. A silver teapot incrusted with fresh water pearls (see plate \ in), and 
a. watch case so thickly covered with Tennessee pearls that scarcely any mounting 
could be seen, were striking illustrations of the adaptation of these, native products 
to elegant work in art. There were also exhibited Unio pearls from Weymouth. 
Nova Scotia; seven pearls from the original lind made in 18.">ii at Notch Brook, 



124 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES PISH COMMISSION. 

near Pater so ii, N. .). (from the collection of Prof. D. 8. Martin, of New York, where 
they had been since a short time after the discovery); and a small quantity of pearls 
taken from the altar of tlie Turner group of mounds, Little Miami Valley, Ohio (from 
the original Bnd of Prof. Frederick W. Putnam, who obtained several bushels of 
them, resembling strikingly those found by Warren K. Moorehead). 

There was also a large collection of various species of Unios, from the small shells 
to the magnificent valves measuring nearly 8 inches in length, in a series in which one 
valve of each specimen is polished and the other in its natural state, to show the 
commercial possibilities of these shells. These were principally from the Sugar Kiver, 
Wisconsin; ol hers from Texas, Tennessee, and Kentucky. 

A glass jar contained a line specimen of the fresh-water mussel Margaritana 
margariUfera, from the Botova River, in Bohemia, carefully prepared and injected, 
showing a pearl in place between the mantle and the shell (see plate II). 

A very interesting series of mounted fresh-water pearls was shown from Wis 
consin, Tennessee, Ohio, and Texas. Among these are some absolutely white, pink, 
and brown pearls. All those from Wisconsin are very line, possessing a marvelous 
metallic luster. In the Mining Building, Bunde \ l'pmeyer,of Milwaukee, exhibited 
several hundred Unio pearls, some of them very line, of the various colors found in 
the rivers of Wisconsin. 

The New York State exhibit, in the gallery of the Anthropological Building, con- 
tained a superb collection of 1'nios, beautifully mounted and well labeled, belonging 
to the stale cabinet. This collection embraces those of the Rev. John Walton, Shelly 
(!. Crump, 0. E, Beecher, and others. In the south gallery, forming a portion of the 
exhibit of Professor Ward, of Rochester, were some magnificent specimens of Unios. 
Superb examples of Dipsas i>lic<iln>t Lea, from Lake Riwa and from central China, 
containing pearl figures of Buddha, and flat, pearl-like disks, produced by inserting 
between t he mantle and the shell of the mollusk small tinfoil ligures or disks, were 
shown in the folk lore collection of (!. P. Ixunz and in the Ward collection in the 
south gallery (see pi. ill), both of which are now in the Field Columbian Museum. 

In Hie southeastern gallery of the Anthropological Building were about fifty 
specimens of I'nios and mother of pearl shells with one valve of each shell polished. 

< >ne of the most interesting objects of pearl inlay was a small, round eartheiiw are 
pot in the collection in the (Mill' dwellers' exhibit, just west of the Anthropological 
Building. In this earthen pot irregular squares of Unio shell have been inlaid in 
hard clay in regular layers, the clay between the pieces of pearl being about the width 
of the pieces I hemsel ves, and producing the effect of mosaic. This is the only object 
SO decorated thai has ever been found. 

In the Swedish Building, Augusta Mollenberg, the royal court jeweler, exhibited 
twelve fresh water pearls, weighing from I lo 10 grains each, eight mounted on a 
chalice and two on an ecclesiastical bowl. A Norwegian jeweler exhibited several 
dozen pearls, while and faintly pink, from Norwegian rivers. 

In the English section of the Manufactures Building, Edmund Johnson, jeweler 
royal of Ireland, exhibited several fresh-water pearls, weighing over 10 grains each, 
from Irish rivers, mounted in a brooch, in his collection of reproductions of Irish 
gold ant iquities. 

In the Mexican section, in the Fisheries Building, from I he district of .lederal, 
with a scries of marine pearl shells from the west coast of Nuevo Leon, was another 
series of fresh water I'nios. some measuring nearly 10 inches in length. 



Bull. U S F. C 1897. (To face page 425.1 



Plate IX. 




Valve of Unio in its natural state, and the same with " blanks " cut out fiom it. 

" Blanks " as cut ; three upper figures showing inside, three lower showing outside 1 

The same ground but not "centered" or polished. 

The same centered i. e ., with the central depression made, but not the holes, 

The same with the holes drilled complete. 

A dozen buttons, aj> fastened on card for sale, 



ith more or less of the epide 



THE EVOLUTION OF A PEARL BUTTON 



PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 425 



UTILIZATION OF UNIO SHELLS FOR BUTTONS. 



The valuable possibilities of using Unio shells in making buttons have at last 
attracted attention, and an important industry is developing. A correspondent of the 
St. Paul (Minn.) Dispatch, under date of November 13, 1897, gives an extended account 
of the shell-buttou manufacture at Muscatine, Iowa, where already a number of facto- 
ries are in operation. No dates are specified; but the statement is made that it was 
begun within a few years past by Mr. Boepple, a German, who recognized the possi 
bilities of such an industry and established a factory at Muscatine, soon employing 
200 operatives, besides a number of outside people gathering shells from the Missis- 
sippi River at that point. The enterprise proved profitable, even under an unfavorable 
tariff, and several other factories were established; but since the recent protective 
legislation has gone into effect the business is increasing largely. Eleven or twelve 
factories are now in operation, running 300 saws and employing 1,500 people. One of 
these was working on double time, to fill orders for 20,000 gross of buttons for the "holi- 
day trade" of 1897. The business is already an important element in the prosperity 
of the town; and as the supply of shells is enormous it is expected to increase in 
exteut. Other works exist in Iowa, at Davenport and Sabula, and at Cedar Rapids, 
on the Cedar River. There are also eastern factories referred to, that cut the shells 
into "blanks" — i. e., unfinished disks — and send them to Muscatine to be polished and 
perforated. 

The shells have been heretofore gathered by men and boys wading in the shallow 
water, and working from boats in the deeper parts with rakes provided with a wire 
net or basket. Now, however, one boat has been built for steam-dredging, and 
another is under construction. The dredge will take up a ton of shells in an hour, 
and the steam will be used to cook the animals and clean the shells — a process now 
slowly conducted in small furnaces. As the gathering can not be carried on in winter 
when the river is frozen, prices rise in the autumu. Several species are capable of 
being used, of which two are particularly mentioned; these are "nigger- head" shells, 
which have risen with the approach of winter from 3o cents per 100 to 70 cents, and 
"sand" shells, which have advanced correspondingly from $1 to $2 per 100. 

If the myriads of shells destroyed by the pearl-hunters could only be gathered 
and sent to the factories, or if cutting-works could be established in the districts 
affected by the "pearling" fever, much of this fine material could be utilized. On the 
other hand, the development of a large demand for shells by this industry and the 
introduction of steam-dredges to gather them by the ton from water too deep for the 
pearl-hunters to deal with, threaten within a few years' time to obliterate the Unio 
fauna largely, if not wholly, from our waters. 

Following are some statistics in regard to the pearl-button business: 

Selling price-list: First quality : 16 line, 48 cents per gross ; 18 line, 51 cents per gross ; 20 line, 5t> 
cents per gross; 22 line, 60 cents per gross; 21 line, 65 cents per gross; 23 line, 70 cents per gross. 

Second quality : 16 line, 40 cents per gross; 18 line, '3 cents per gross; 20 line, 47 cents per gross; 
22 line, 52 cents per gross; 24 line, 57 cents per gross; 26 line, 62 cents per gross. 

Third quality : 16 line, 27 cents per gross; 18 line, 30 cents per gross; 20 line, 36 cents per gross ; 22 
line, 37 cents per gross; 24 line, 41 cents per gross; 26 line, 45 cents per gross. 



426 BULLETIN OF THE 1INITKI) STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

I'rn-rs jmiil sawyers: 26 line, in cents per gross, sawing whole shell; 2<i line, 11 cents per gross, 
sawing butts; 24 line, 8J cents per gross, »a» ing whole shell ; 24 line, !U cents per gross, sawing butts; 
22 line. 7 J . cents per gross, sawing whole sliell ; 20 line, 7 cents per gross, sawing whole shell ; 18 line, 
6 cents per gross, saw ini; whole shell : 16 line, ru cents per gross, sawing whole shell. 

By whole shell reference is made to sawing all the 26-line blanks there are in the shell. A gross 
is 11 dozen. The extra 2 dozen are to make up for the imperfect blanks or buttons, and these are all 
counted by weight. By Units are meant two (li lie rent lines of blanks cut from 1 shell. 

Prices paid grinders: 1 cenl facing on grinder; lj- cents grinding one side, per gross, all sizes. 

Prioes paid turners: 21 and 26 line, I cents per gross ; 20 and 22 line, 3j cents; Hi and is Hue. 3 
cents; scratch renter. 2 cents per gross; ring center, l.f cents. 

Prices paid drillers: Ml cents per gross I -hole, all sizes: 2 cents per gross 2-hnle, all sizes. 

Carding: 5 cents per gross. 

The capacity of a tO-saw factory is from soil to 1,000 gross per week. The 
Muscatine buttons now bring a better price than the eastern goods. 

Several button companies are now fully organized, and are producing large 
amounts of material. 

In view of the button industry, even more than of the occasional yield of pearls, 
i lie question begins to arise as to the artificial culture of Unios. Between " pearling" 
and dredging for button-factories, the supply, however abundant, must soon be 
greatly reduced, if not exhausted altogether, unless some means can be found for 
increasing and maintaining it. For this purpose it would seem that I'nio •'farming" 
might yet become desirable and practicable as a source of industry and of profit, 
more especially if carried on in connection with the insertion of figures, Hags, and 
other forms that might tind a ready sale. 



C. 1897. 


(To face page 426.) 








Plate X 










-. 






f 


I 


k. ._* * 






I 


a 




1 





.1 B 

HOLLOW PEARL MADE BY CHINESE, BY SCALING OFF A LAYER FROM A LARGE OVAL PEARL AND FILLING IT WITH 

A COMPOSITION OF HARD WAX OR SHELLAC TO STRENGTHEN IT 

A convex side; B. concave side, showing portion of the filling adhering along the line of the transverse ciack. which revealed the deception. 



a 


a 

2 


3 


4- 


■J 

7 


> 
3 


31 

9 


10 


• 


9 


9 


^^Bk 


13 


1 + 


15 


16 



Q O 



^ 



17 



12. 



IS 




IRREGULAR AND BUTTON-SHAPED PEARLS, 



Bull. U S. F. C. 1 897. (To lace page 426.) 



Plate XI. 



4gp 


2 


3 


+ 


a 

s 


6 


^^^^. 


^ 

\^^^"- 


i- 


3 

a 


C 


1 1 


7 


12 


1 + 


IS 


16 


|7 


I'i 




5 


21 


a 

22 


9 

23 


d 

2 + 


25 


26 


27 


28 


29 



ENCYSTED PEARLS AND PEARLS WITH MARKED INTERIORS. 



No. 1 . Peariy lump from shell of Unio. 

Nos 2-5, 7-9, 1 3, Encysted or ingrown pearls, Plate XI showing them from the inner side, Plate XII from the outer side, the pearls sometimes appearing 

from the exterior, through ihe shell (2, 3, 4), at other times not at all (7). 
No 6 Small crayfish completely encysted. Plate XI, inner side, showing details of the animal ; Plate XII, other side, faintly. 
Nos. 10-12, 14-16, 18 21, 23-29. Pearls formed over some foreign matter differing in color from the nacre. Plate XI shows the upper or most perfectly 

coated side; Plate XII the reverse, occasionally showing the structure of the innei growth 
No. 1 7. Hollow bead-like pearl, from which the nucleus has entirely disappeared — perhaps some insect or bit of vegetable matter that has decayed, or 

piece of clay that has disintegrated and washed out. It can now be blown through like a whistle. Plate XII shows the concentric layers very well, 
No 22 Double or notched pearl, the result of the joining and mtergrowth of two pearls 



Bull. U. S. F. C. 1897. iTn facn page 426.) 



Plate XII. 



^ • 


to 




*r 


• 


/*i^ 




1 * 


• 

9 


& & 


^ 


li 


9 


16 


1 

17 


a 


o 

It 


• • 

20 2' 


• 

■1 


• 

23 


• 


a o 

us 


• 


• 

2» 


* 



SAME AS PRECEDING PLATE, 8UT SHOWING EXTERIOR SIDES. 



Bull U. S. F. C. 1897. (To (»ce pnge 426.) 



Plate XIII. 




ROUND AND ELONGATED PEARLS. 




PEARLS PRESENTING THE ASPECT OF HAVING BEEN TURNED IN A LATHE. I E .. WITH ONE OR MORE 
REGULAR RIDGES OR FURROWS RUNNING COMPLETELY AROUND THEM. 

|„( „„ ,,...•■.■■ «d, club-.h.p.d, top..haped, o. ' itt I Ilk, aq I So; i . nf coale.c.nc. 

l, w o left-hand I I Id -» I two c.ntral figur.e of bottom row ; c Plat. XIV, G ip A ■' ■■' 

I by mo to bo con«tantly practicod by tha eaao of " fr«» " paarla. 



Bull. U. S. F. C 189/ (Tofocr pagi -t i i 



Plate XIV. 




GROUPED PEARLS, CONSISTING OF SEVERAL ORIGINALLY DISTINCT PEARLS JOINED TOGETHER AT A 
LATER STAGE BY A CONNECTING DEPOSIT OF NACRE. 



In Group A are seen many th ■ "no casol up 10 a doron in number (fig. I I, and at timer. .- ,ir aeries (fig. 3 I. In Group B 

aro shown groups of front two to fivi lb lUtlfu trip ■ I n tig. I 3, In fig. tv 

" turned " appearance illustratod in Plate XIII 



Bull. U. S. F. C 1897. iTo fnco page 426.) 



Plate XV 




• 

1 


e 


e 


e 


1 

e 

i 
i 




r 


e 



WISCONSIN PEARLS PINK, COPPER-COLORED, AND BROWN. 



WW 

1 


-. 


4 


4 


■ - 
s 


6 


<* 


v 

8 


9 




10 


ii 


* 


13 


ft 

14- 


IS 


» 

16 


»-7 


18 


10 


2.0 



1 




3 


f 


* 


m 


7 


8 


r 


6 






9 




10 


il 


ll 


• 

13 


1 

1+ 


15 


,6 | 


17 


18 


10 


20 



Group A. Top view of pearls. Group B. Under side of same. 

TWISTED AND RENIFORM PEARLY GROWTHS, SOME SHOWING GROUPING OR COALESCENCE. 

No. 4. With central nucleus, the layers fm*»ly sh iwn in Group B. 
Plain spirals. Nos. 1 5, 1 9. Elongated spiral-. Nos 1 2, 20. Well-marked coalescence. No 17 Hoot- ;haped growth. 

No, IB V-iy brilliant mass, grouped above and running to a sharp point, m !-- Ll-p lyp 



Bull u, S, I i 185 'i 1 1 ■ i" US.) 



Pi ah xvi 



> s 


A 


. ^L 


6 i 


Q 

9 


ID 


it 'j 


3 


2) 

1 ' 



p A 



$ 9 

i 


• * 


? <♦ 


• * 


t 10 






IS lb 1/ 



IWimi D ELONGATED AND OTHI RWI! I IRRI I Al 

i ( ■■ ■ n Group B often vory brilliant and highly colored tl n I > A hi to oi In G ip A, tnai tlai ind 

■ I 13 ■ i i thoio would lusgeit | tl 



Bull. U S. F. C. 1897. I To face page 426.) 



Plate XVII. 




IRREGULAR BAROQUE PEARLS. 

Nos. 13, 5-10, 16-19, 23, 32, 33. Covered with small protuberances, prickly or warty. 

Nos 11-15. Elongated, twisted, and flattened. 

No. 31. Doubtless enclosing a large mass of foreign material, perhaps clay or a pebble. 



Bull. U. S. F. C. 1897. |To (ace page 426.) 



Plate XVIII. 





5> 

2 

- 





3 ff-tf?' 



€S> 



■ 2 



10 



o >3 















\± - 



\\ 



\2 



10 



LARGE BAROQUE PEARLS; IRREGULAR NACREOUS GROWTHS, WITH MORE OR LESS BEAUTY OF LUSTER AND COLOR. 



Nos 1 7, 8. 11. Showing a twisted structure. 
Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6, 10. More regulai 



No. 12. With a row of protuberances 

No 3, immense mass of hinge-matter, salmon-pink in color. 



The lower group is the reverse of upper group. 



Bull. U S. F C 1R97 (To face page 426.) 



Plate XIX 




BAROQUE PEARLS 

Irregular and grouped pearls, occasionally drawn out like Prince Rupert's drop (fig I I and somewhat in fig. 1 2). 
The dark figures are rich bronze color in nature. 



Bull. U. S. F. C. 1897. |To fnco page 4?6.) 



Plate XX. 




HINGE PEARLS. 



Generally elongated, sometimes remarkably long and flattened, and uggenting various imitative forms, such ao fishes, wings of birds and bats, 

winged seeds (samara) of maple and related trees, etc. 



Bull. U. S. F C. 1897. (To lace page 426.) PLATE XX] 



1 


2 


3 


•4- 


9 

5 


6 


«fc* 


9 

B 


9 


10 


il 


3 

12 


4 

: 


1* 


15 


11 

16 


1/ 


3 




20 


21 




1 

23 


2 + 


15 


26 


27 


28 


29 


30 


• 
3i 


32 


y 

33 


3 4- 


3 

35 


36 



IRREGULAR AND TWISTED PEARLS. 

Figs. 1-6, showing an inner (older! pearl, mori or less covered, and enclosed by a secondary growth, the remaining; figures showing peculiar twisting;.', 
and irregular growths— Nos. 10-26, pustulate ; Nos. 35, 36, elongated to a tapering point, etc. 



Bull U. S. F. C. 1897. (To ' I ■ 



Plate XXII. 





4 

2 


• 

3 




s 


6 


7 




9 


9 

10 




ii 


•J 

15 


1^ 

1* 


- i 

IS 


lb 


ll 


- 

• 
it 


4* 

13 


JO 






13 


2 4- 


25 


26 


3 

4 

27 


4 

2.8 


1 

29 


30 






33 


3 4- 


3 5 


36 



REVERSE OF PLATE 21. 



<^ 



[AKT1ULK M.— EXTRACTED PROM nil: i:r I l.i: I'l \ OF rill-: \>, s FISH UOMMISSIOM 
FOB I i 19 i- i i' PlBtea 18 to 41.) 



THE WORLD'S FISHERIES CONGRESS, CHICAGO, L893. 



On Pearls, and the Utilization and Application of the Shells 

in which they are found in the Ornamental Arts, as 

shown at the World's Columbian Exposition. 



BY 



GEORGE FRKD1CWICK KUNZ. 



-*■* -*- • ■•— 



WASTTJXr.TON': 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

16 94. 



l'LATK 18. 



9 



FRESH WATER PEARL ^Tennessee. 

2 / )ia m (>lers. 



§ 




GRAYandBLACK PEARLS, LoweTCalifomia. 

Xtt/iu-tf/ si ye . 



§ # C 



BLACK PEARLS, Lower California 

I-' Diamrtcrs. 




Wr 



CLAM PEARLS, Long Island Sound. 
-^ Dictmet&rs '. 



■\tllimore 



[ARTICLE 40.— EXTRACTS® FROM TIIK BULLETIN OF THE U. S. FISH COMMISSION 
FOR 1893. Pages 439 to 457. Plates. 18 to 41.] 



THE WORLD'S FISHERIES CONGRESS, CHICAGO, 1893. 



On Pearls, and the Utilization and Application of the Shells 

in which they are found in the Ornamental Arts, as 

shown at the World's Columbian Exposition. 



BY 



GEORGE FREDERICK KUNZ. 



WASHINGTON": 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1894. 



46.-ON PEARLS AND THE UTILIZATION AND APPLICATION OF THE 
SHELLS IN WHICH THEY ARE FOUND IN THE ORNAMENTAL ARTS, AS 
SHOWN AT THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 



BY GEORGE FREDERICK KUNZ. 



In these pages I have sought to bring together a series of notes from the World's 
Columbian Exposition, regarding the exhibits of pearls and pearl-bearing shells 
to be seen there, and the various ways in which these beautiful materials have 
been or maybe employed iu jewelry proper and in other of the decorative arts, such 
as inlaying, cameo work, and the like. With these are included some notes upon the 
use of pearls by the mound-builders of prehistoric America. 

Before proceeding to describe any of these exhibits in detail, it may be well to 
take a general view of the subject of pearls and pearl shells. 

The term pearly is applied strictly only to those shells that are iridescent or 
nacreous. These are of several families, especially the Aviculidce, to which belongs 
the true pearl oyster, Meleagrina, in its several varieties mentioned further on, and 
the Unionidw, or fresh-water mussels, found in all countries of the globe, but especially 
abundant in the interior river system of North America. These two hitter groups furnish 
the greater part of the pearls of commerce, while most of the mother-of-pearl is from 
the shells of the first-named family. Other pearly shells, more or less employed for 
ornamental work,are the Nautilus, the Turbo family, the Trigonia, and particularly the 
Ealiotis family, or abalone shells, which furnish the green mother-of-pearl used with 
such line effect for inlaying, etc., in connection with the usual white variety. 

Other groups of shells also yield pearl-like concretions or are used in the orna- 
mental arts; but not being iridescent or nacreous, they are not properly pearly, and 
their beauty is that of color effects simply. Such are iu particular the large marine 
univalves commonly known as conchs. Of these, the pink conch of the West Indies, 
Strombm gigas, is used to a small extent for cameo work, and largely for the beautiful 
pink jewelry carved out of pieces of the shell, to form brooches, earrings, etc., and 
cut into bead forms in imitation of the rose colored pearl. The cameo shell proper, 
or king-conch, Cassis cornuta, is of a wholly different family, and its white and brown 
layers afford the finest material for shell cameos. All these and various other colored 
shells are used also in mosaic work. 

1 shall take up the subject of the Columbian exhibits in about the following order: 

(1) Pearls and pearl jewelry, with further notes upon fresh water pearls, and also 
upon ornamental articles of which pearls form a part, as shown in the German section; 

(2) pearls from the prehistoric mounds of the Mississippi Valley; (3) shell carvings, 
cameos, and inlayings, iu many forms; and lastly, remarks on the Unio shells of our 

139 



440 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

own and other countries, as exhibited at Chicago, and their actual and possible uses 
for ornamental work. 

At the Tiffany Pavilion in tbe Manufactures Building there was a collection illus 
trating the occurrence of pearls and the various pearl-bearing shells and mollusks — 
notably a series of several thousand odd-shaped and curiously formed pearls, pearl 
blisters, and hinge pearls, from the Unios of Wisconsin, Texas, Tennessee, and Ohio. 
[n this collection are found round, oval, oblong, and mallet-shaped Unio pearls; two 
pearls ingrown into one another; pearls consisting of scarcely more than a blister, 
others formed of a single nacreous layer, with a central arc of clay, and other curious 
and abnormal growths, of interest to the naturalist, but of little commercial value 
(see PI. 'M). A silver tea-pot incrusted with fresh water pearls (sec PI. 28). A speci- 
men of the fresh-water mussel Margaritana margariti/era, from the Botova River in 
Bohemia, carefully prepared and injected, showing a pearl in place between the mantle 
and the shell (.see PI. 41). A series of ITnios from the Sugar River, Wisconsin (see 
I'ls. 35 and 36), and from Texas, Tennessee, and Kentucky, remarkably large; a 
heart-Shaped pearl, very nearly an inch in length (see PI. 31), from the true pearl oyster 
of Ceylon, interesting as being hollow throughout. (This type has been frequently 
observed, notably in a collection of this kind presented by .Mr. M. Lowensten to the 
Imperial School of Mines ;it St. Petersburg.) A pearl oyster was shown with a para- 
sitic fish, Fierasfer, from Lower California (see PI. 32); a pair of pearl oyster shells 
remarkable for their size, weighing L51.35 ounces (see PI. 37), from the west coast of 
Australia; a pearl-oyster shell from Tahiti, having attached to it three forms of coral, 
one of them a group S inches in height and 8 inches in width ; the niollusk had 
lived, notwithstanding this great burden, although one of the corals at the side had 
very nearly suffocated it by closing the shell of the animal at the time when it was 
captured (.sec PI. 29). A shell found on the coast of New Guinea had on it a cup 
shaped coral over 8 inches in diameter and <> inches in height. ( For a series of similar 
specimens, see PL 30.) 

There are also other examples where pearls are imbedded in the shells themselves, 
and some (see PL 34) where pearls had been imbedded and dropped out; also abnor- 
mally huge growths in the shell (see PL 33), some of them more than an inch in diame- 
ter and an inch in height. These forms are frequently cut over and used as baroque 
pearls. Another form is a curious inclusion at the point of the shell, where the muscles 
arc attached to t he valves. This has the appearance (see PL 33) of the eyes and mouth 
of an ape's head. A small piece of the true mother-of-pearl shell two-fifths of an inch 
in length, which broke while undergoing the operation of being made into a button, 
revealing a small inclosed crab (.sec PL 32) immediately below the blister: a collection 
of pearl blisters assuming imitative shapes; and a large pearl-oyster showing the 
perforations of some marine borer which the niollusk has covered (see PL .'5!t). 

Other exhibits in this series were a group of four pearls united in a heart-shaped 
form (P1.31,E); several hundred pearls from the abalone shell, Maliotis rvfescens, from 
the. Gulf of California; a collection of various species of Haliotis, one containing an 
immense interior growth resembling a. earners head (see PI. 38), due to some external 
injury (measuring 2A by 2 inches); a collection of line pearls from the large pink conch 
of the Bahamas, Strombus gigas, varying from deep pink t o almost pure white, one of 
the pearls measuring nearly an inch in length; one small conch pearl and the shell in 
which it was found, from the coast of Florida; pearls from the l nios of Weymouth, Nova 



PEARLS AND PEARL SHELLS. 441 

Scotia; seven of the pearls from the original find made in L856 al N"otcb Brook, near 
Paterson, N. J. (these were from the collection of Prof. I>. 8. Martin, of New York, 
where they had been since a short time after the discovery i ; a small quantity of pearls 
taken from the altar of the Turner group of mounds, Little .Miami Valley, Ohio (these 
were from the original find of Prof. P. W. Putnam, who obtained several bushels of 
them, resembling strikingly those found by Warren K. Moorehead at points to be noted 
further on); a round white pearl, measuring four-fifths of an inch in diameter, from the. 
giant oyster, Osfrea singaporica; about thirty pearls varying from white to pink, brown. 
purple, and almost a deep black, from the common clam. Venus mercenaria, from Long 
Island Sound and Chesapeake Bay; eight pearls from the common oyster, Ostrea rir 
(jinica, from Long Island Sound and the Connecticut coast, one of them over half an inch 
in diameter and remarkable for its resemblance to the human eye; also the shell and 
pearls of Venus fluctifraga, San Diego, Gal.,. and Pachyderma crassatelloides, and shells 
and pearls of I'rigonia pectinata, from Australia. 

The most remarkable exhibit of pearl jewelry that was ever seen in this country 
is that in the four necklaces displayed by Messrs. Tiffany & Co., which for their purity 
of color, fine orient, even form, and careful selection are unsurpassed — notably a neck 
lace of ;> strands consisting of 159 pearls, weighing LM>.'58 grains, and a single strand 
of II pearls, weighing 946J grains; these strands represent $100,000 each. Possibly 
more remarkable still for their great size were the strand of 38 pearls, weighing 1,064 
.mains, valued at $200,000, and the one of 52 pearls, weighing 1,1454 grains, valued 
at $80,000. 

A remarkable illustration of the delicate manner in which pearls can be set is a 
watch case so thickly Lncrusted with Tennessee pearls that scarcely any mounting is 
visible. 

Two great French jewelers had very interesting displays; the first, Vever, had sev- 
eral fine necklaces of [.earls, notably one 5-strand necklace, valued at about 8100, (too, 
and some very large single pearls and various others; the second, Boucheron, had two 
magnificent black pearl earrings, weighing about SO grains each, and several strands 
of fine white pearls of very large size. 

In the French section were also some very tine exhibits of imitation pearls, notably 
that of liiitan, who had many strings, etc., of them. Constant Vales, of Paris, imi- 
tated the necklace of black and white pearls that belonged to the Empress Josephine 
and the 5-strand necklace of the Princess of Wales. Passeau-Feil, of Paris, had many 
imitations of both black and white pearls, notably a new kind produced by coating 
beads made of true mother-of-pearl shell with silver, giving them almost the same 
specific gravity and the silver simulating the luster of the gray pearl. 

Schurman, of Frankfort, in the German section, exhibited a fairly good drop pearl of 
105 grains; a remarkable Nautilus shell, mounted in a silver goblet; an ivory figure 
holding a mother-of-pearl shell; some pearl earrings, of from 25 to 40 grains each, and 
a quaint brooch, containing a pink, a yellow, a gray, a dark-gray, and a black pearl. 
Messrs. C. Heitel and Sohn, Ilanau, showed a- marvelous display of large oriental 
pearls of great size and fanciful forms. These were baroque pearls, artistically mounted. 
forming the principal features of figures, paperweights, brooches, pins, coupes, vases, 
cups, etc., as described hereafter (sec Plato l!t). Among these was a group of histor- 
ical and other figures of line artistic finish and original design, made in the style of 
those of Din'glinger in the Green Vaults at Dresden, The mounting of the figures is 



442 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

iii sterling silver, partly gilded and enameled, all on marble <>r lapis-lazuli bases, 
with the exception of the first two, which had bases of sterling silver gilt. Some of 
these were — 

A negro king, with white waistcoat formed of a monstrous oriental pearl of good 
white color, 37 mm. x 29 mm, somewhat pointed on the upper part issuing from the 
neck and ornamented with 3 rose diamonds ; the coat is of blue and yellow enamel, orna- 
mented with <> more ruse diamonds and en cabochon rubies. The lower part of the 
negro's body and head are formed by one large baroque pearl, with the arms and legs 
of variously colored enamel. 

A negress, with bust of one enormous pearl of 20 x 17 mm., narrowing toward 
the waist, valued at $145. 

A dancing girl, the upper part of whose body is formed by a black pearl 25x10 
nun. The figure stands on a slab of rose onyx resting on a base which is richly orna- 
mented with gold, silver and enamel. 

Mercury, after Giovanni di Bologna. The body and upper parts of the legs of 
this figure arc formed of an oriental baroque pearl, 24x24 nun., going all around 
the body. One foot stands on a rock, an oriental pearl L'l'x17 mm., and this again 
rests on a jeweled stone pedestal. 

Don Quixote, Palstaff, a monk, and a hall porter, conceived in artistic mountings, 
rivaling in delicate workmanship the prototypes of Dinglinger, and not inferior iu 
skilled technical execution. 

A goblet with boar's head; the latter, at the end of the horn-shaped goblet, 
is an oriental pearl of extraordinary dimensions, being over 45 mm. in length and width. 

A paperweight; an amourette riding on a- dolphin, formed of an oriental pearl 
65 mm. in length and 45 mm. in width, pointed at its end. 

A sheet of water formed by a very tlat pearl <>5 mm. in length and 50 mm. in 
breadth. 

Other fanciful conceits, all unique in form, as brooches, dogs' heads, spiders, 
beetles, pigs, ducks, pheasants, peacocks, etc.. the special feature always an irregular 
pearl. These mounted objects ranged in value from *1.'!5 to #1,700. 

The firm of Michel Piscione, in the Italian section, had a quantity of the small 
shells of Trigonia pectinata mounted in brooches, as single valves or two single valves 
together, generally with a fresh- water pearl set in them; and in the Japanese building 
was a collection of pearls from the abalone shell and various other shells and shell work. 

The great family of fossil shells known as the ammonites, and their allies, which 
are very closely related to the modern pearly Nautilus, were, like the latter, highly 
nacreous, and in many cases retain this feature very beautifully in their present fossil- 
ized state. If the outer layers have been removed by partial decomposition, the pearly 
lasers are exposed as is done artificially by means of acids in "cleaning" Nautilus 
shells for ornament. Some of the. ammonites and baculitesof the Cretaceous deposits 
of 1 >akota and elsewhere are gorgeous and glowing in their nacreous coloring, in some 
cases resembling masses of opal, and more rich than any other pearly material known. 
Specimens of these are not uncommon in geological collections, and some tine examples 
were shown in the South Dakota State building at the World's Fair. 

In this connection may be mentioned some remarkable specimens of lumaohelle 
(fire marble) from Bleiberg, Oarinthia. One of the finest examples of this beautiful 
marble was that in the National Museum collection in the Government building; one 
of the finest-worked specimens was an eighteenth century snuff-box in the Tiffany 



PEARLS AND PEARL SHELLS. 443 

Pavilion. This rare and elegant material, nearly all found during the latter part of 
the eighteenth century, is a limestone tilled with fossilized shells, in which the colors 
have become so splendidly intensified that it is frequently difficult to decide at a 
glance whether a cut specimen is a fire opal from Mexico or lumachelle marble. 

Pearls wen- used in large quantities by the prehistoric tribes of America, and have 
been found in great numbers in the tumuli of the Scioto and Miami valleys in Ohio. 
Prof. F. W. Putnam, of the Peabody Museum. Cambridge. Mass.. and Mr. Warren K. 
Moorehead, of Xenia, Ohio, have made extensive explorations in these mounds, some of 
the results of which were shown at the. World's Fair. The former had investigated 
particularly the Turner group of mounds in the Little Miami Valley, the latter the 
Hopewell group in Ross County, near < 'hillicothe, on the North Fork of Paint Creek. 

In the Anthropological building was shown the great ''find - ' of pearls made 
by Mr. Moorehead in the Effigy mound of the Hopewell group. Here more than a 
gallon of pearls was obtained with two skeletons. They ranged from the size of a 
small millet-seed to a diameter of two-thirds of an inch, or even more. In shape they 
were usually irregular, though many were round or nearly so; but the absence of the 
elongated and hinge pearls is remarkable. All have been drilled, with holes varying 
from 1 to fully 3 mm. in diameter, but generally the larger size, made with a heated 
copper wire, in the manner described by early travelers as common amongthe Indians. 
This drilling was undoubtedly for the purpose of attaching them to clothing or belts, 
as shown by the fact that four or five hundred had been originally sewed upon a rough 
cloth shirt extending from the waist to the knees of a skeleton. Copper plates on the 
hips had preserved traces of the cloth, and several dozen beads were found with cloth 
fiber still extending through the perforation. Pearls were usually placed at the wrists, 
on the ankles, around the neck, or in the mouth. In the Porter mounds at Frankfort. 
Ross County, several hundred were on copper plates. Nearly all. how ever, are found 
loose, although some are imbedded in a hard, rock like mass of clay, cemented either 
by a calcareous solution from the weathering of the pearls or by an iron oxide pro- 
duced by the decomposition of the meteoric iron ornaments that were found in such 
quantities in the Hopewell group of mounds. These, like all the pearls found in 
mounds in the Ohio and adjacent valleys, were undoubtedly from the Uuios, which 
were evidently very plentiful at the time these were collected. Very few of the pearls 
have retained any of the original orient, although it is possible that by peeling them 
some good unaltered pearl surfaces could be obtained; but it is more likely that 
either heat or burial in the ground, where they have undoubtedly lain for centuries, 
has destroyed them by infiltration of surface waters through the earth in which they 
were imbedded. 

In the explorations in winch .Mr. Moorehead lias been engaged, he has found over 
forty bear's teeth in which pearls had been set, lying near skeletons. The settings 
were in the side or near the base (root; of the tooth. Skeletons accompanied by a 
large number of pearls always have other relics associated with them, such as native 
copper articles, mica, obsidian, galena, hematite, ocean shells, bad-land fossils, and other 
foreign objects. This fact would indicate clearly that the remains thus distinguished 
must have been those of prominent persons. 

From the altars or '•hearths - ' in mounds have been taken thousands of spherical 
pearls. For instance, at the Turner group in the Little Miami Valley, Prof. Putnam, 
exploring for the Peabody Museum, secured half a bushel, nearly every one blackened 



444 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

by heat, some cracked, and all impaired in luster. Mr. Moorehead took from two 
hearths upward of 100,000 pearls. 

In an altar, or " hearth," of the Effigy mound were found a number of bears' teeth 
and several quarts of pearls, many of which had several successive laycus flaked off. 
Some of these pearls measured two thirds of an inch in diameter. In this remark- 
able altar were found hundreds oi obsidian knives and spears, of exquisite work 
inaiiship, measuring from a few inches up to 8 inches in length. With these were 
several hundred earrings made of native copper coated with meteoric iron. 

From their manner of occurrence in connection with the skeletons, the archaeolo- 
gist is led to see that the use. of pearls, although so many are found, was routined to 
a few individuals. 

A remarkable fact in this connection is that pearls have never been found in 
isolated mounds, nor out of the gr-eat mound groups. The hill mounds, the villages 
of the small streams, and the tumuli of northern Ohio have yielded none. They seem 
to have been used by the more cultured tribes, and arc an evidence of extensive trade 
and barter. 

It is of interest to archaeologists to note further that they are not found in any 
quantify outside of the Miami and Scioto valleys, and that they invariably were kepi 
in large and prosperous communities; that the pearlswere deposited with the remains 
of persons held in especial distinction; while the enormous numbers found indicate 
that the yield of Unio pearls must have been far greater in the remote past than it 
has been at any time since the whites have occupied the country. 

From Taylor's mound, Oregonia, Warren County, Ohio, there were four Unio 
shells in which a hole, two-thirds of an inch in diameter has been drilled, eit her for 
the purpose of extracting a piece of the shell to make a bead from, or else to allow the 
shell bo be used as an ornament. From this same mound were shown decorated disks 
made of Cnio shells, and a long [Jnio from which t he corner nearest the lip has been 
either ground down or cut off, evidently to adapt it for use as a scraper or a tool of 
some kind. 

In the Ayer collection from Alaska was a large cloak of buckskin decorated with 
about one hundred pendants of ab alone shell (Hullo/is lcamchaikana), the exterior of 
the shells being almost a brick red, the interior showing a brilliant iridescence of green, 
red, and yellow, the combined colors making a pleasing contrast with the dark brow n 

buckskin. The pieces are pear-shaped or elongated, frequently with a square lower 

end, occasionally having a notched edge, and varying in length from 1 to 4 inches. 

One of the most striking objects in this collection was an ornament made of wal- 
rus bone, beautifully inlaid with green abalonc shell. The shape is that of a- capital 
Idler H, laid down horizontally, the sides being concave anil curving gracefully. The 
length is about 5 inches and the breadth 1 | inches at the middle and nearly 1' inches 
at the ends. The whole is adorned with elaborate inlays of abalone, oval, semioval, 

ring shaped, etc., producing a delightful combination of color in contrast to the yel- 
lowish while b •. 

The decoration of various wooden dishes, bowls, boxes, and chests with pieces of 
abalone shell, is striking. Many of these are remarkably beautiful j and when it is 

considered Ihat t hey were used as household utensils, one can no! but admit that these 
savage tribes possess more natural arlislic taste than nine-tenths of our American 
people. They also used circular pendants, either plain or with serrated edges, and in 



PEARLS AND PEARL SHELLS. 445 

several instances engraved with a human eye, Hie outlines being filled in with a red 
mineral color. Abalone or Ilaliotis shell is also skillfully used in the decoration of 
their horn spoons, the handles, quaintly carved, being inlaid with abalone and Unio 

shell. 

Iii the Emmons and Terry collections iii the ant hropological gallery of the American 
Museum of Natural History, at New York, are some remarkable specimens of peari 
work from the aboriginal tribes of Northwest America. Among' these may be noted 
some of the grotesque masks of the shamans, or medicine men, of the tribes of British 
Columbia, in which I he face is surrounded with large inlaid pieces of Ilaliotis (abalone) 
shell. Another exhibit shows the whole process of making pearl (ishhooks, among 
some of the Pacific coast Indians. Pearly shells are cut into rude disks of about 2 
inches diameter; these arc then perforated and (he perforation gradually enlarged 
until the disk is reduced to a flatfish oval ring; this ring is then cut through on one 
side, and worked info the shape of a letter C, and the completed hook is soon attained. 
Another consists of several hundred ring shaped and discoid pieces of pearl, aver- 
aging from 1 to 2 inches across, which were found together in a grave in California. 
These are furl her drilled with small hides on opposite edges, evidently for sewing them 
to a garment, doubtless a splendid pearl-covered mantle worn by some distinguished 
person and buried with his remains. 

The South American exhibits presented many interesting uses of pearly shells, 
both for inlaying and in various forms of personal adornment. Both these modes of 
application seem to have been carried very far among some of the native tribes of this 
Continent, as indicated by the articles here described, nearly all of which are now in 

the Field Columbian Museum. 

In the Amazon basin the Unio family is well developed, but is largely represented 
by two genera not found elsewhere, Oastalia and Hyria. These are characteristic 
South American types, and while differing from the Unios and Anodons of North 
America and the old World, are equally suitable for ornamental uses, from their pearly 

character. Probably many of the objects here described were made from these shells. 

In the Paraguay collection were a number of necklaces made of oblong squares 
of Unio shell, connected by means of a liber drawn through two drilled holes at the 
upper end, while the lower ends are decorated with three small circular drillings 
which do not entirely perforate the shell. Another necklace consisted of small joints 
of hollow reed or bamboo, about an inch in length, between which were blue-glass 
beads, and pendent from each of these a small brilliant Unio shell, pure white, with a 
slight iridescence, and remarkably beautiful. Still another necklace was made entirely 
of Unio shells, not very iridescent, with the dark-brown epidermis remaining on the 
exterior. Internally the drilling was either near one. of the ends or toward the center 
of the shell. These were strung by a thin vegetable liber so as lo hang pendent about 
.'5 inches from the liber necklace, and were evidently intended to serve for a rattle or 
noise-producing ornament. In the same exhibit were a large number of pendants, 
consisting of small pieces or large sections of Unio shells, beautifully iridescent, vary- 
ing in form from oval lo disk shaped, and in length from 1 to 4 inches. In another 
necklace Unios were strung indiscriminately with hoofs of some small animal. 

The use of shells as ornaments is very pronounced among these people. In 
addition to those mentioned, Bullas and land shells were strung in a similar 
manner. These were white, gray, yellow, frequently with pink-tinted tips. Au 



446 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

interesting necklace consisted of operculums, 2 inches in lengtb, of some large shell, 
attached by a fiber decorated with yellow feathers. 

Prom Peru, life-size models of the Zaperos and Jiveros Indians, residing on the 
Montana of Pern, were shown fully attired with their ornaments. These tribes decor- 
ate their headdresses, shoulder bands, and breasts with a profusion of circular, dia- 
mond-shaped, and pear-shaped pieces of a brilliant Anodon shell. These they arrange 
to form stars and other patterns, by sewing a number of them to the fabric, generally 
by means of perforations, and frequently have them swinging as pendants from the 
dress. They also use small Unio shells, the wing-cases of beetles, white and red dried 
seeds, teeth of animals, etc. 

A woven necklace on which are sewed square sections of some fresh-water shells, 
and hanging from it oblong pendants: also three shells of the Spondylus, a pendant 
ornament, the red color of the latter shell adding a very striking feature. 

From Peru, was shown an immense mother-of-pearl casket measuring 30 inches 
in length, 17 inches in width, and IS inches in height, ornamented with large silver 
clasps and handles, and decorated with scrolls tilled with a black pitchy substance, 
probably asphalt, Spanish work dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 

In the collection made by Dr. O. Finsch, of Hamburg, Germany, from the islands 
of the Pacific, are a number of shell articles, naturally much used among a people 
whose choice of materials is so limited and whose life is so much upon the sea and 
beach. Among these may be mentioned: Fishhooks and scrapers of mother-of-pearl, 
from the Caroline Islands; armlets from cross sections of Track us shells, from New 
Britain ; similar armlets from New Guinea, decorated on the exterior with character- 
istic carvings; also nose ornaments, tassels for earrings, etc. The nose rings were in 
shape long-elliptical, about 3 inches by % of an inch, with a piece cut out from the 
middle of one side, about h inch in length. This interrupted ring could then be put 
on the lower part of the nose, and would remain there by clasping it, much as we 
attach our spring eyeglasses above. Some of them were carved and some plain. 

Another New Guinea ornament was a sort of plate or gorget, oval in form and 
about 3 inches by 2, perforated at the middle of one side, to be suspended and worn. 
This was cut so thin as to be almost transparent. 

A somewhat similar mother-of-pearl gorget, from New Britain, about the same 
size, has the form of a semi-ellipse, with the upper edge cut somewhat concave, so as 
to give the whole a luuate shape. At the middle of the concave side are two drilled 
holes near together, to suspend it. 

In the Orient articles of personal adornment made of shell have been used and 
valued among the East Indians time out of mind; particularly, bracelets made from 
large univalves, such as TurMnella rapa, have been regarded as indispensable by 
Hindoo women, and worn as a badge of ceremonial purity by every wife. They are 
given to the bride by her father at her marriage, and a brief religious form is gone 
through before putting them on. 

In making them, the shell was cut into thin slices, as it were, across the body- 
whorl of, e. </., a large TurMnella, and these were theu easily wrought into rings of 
a suitable size for bracelets. They were then variously ornamented by gilding and 



PEARLS AND PEARL SHELLS. 447 

coloring, or attaching beads, etc. Their use, however, is gradually becoming less 
general. Many varieties are made, distinguished by different native names, and a 
series was shown in the Indian Department, of the International Exhibition at Glas- 
gow, in 1888. The prices are very moderate, ranging from an average of half a rupee 
to a rupee for a pair. 

Puller references may be found in '-The Art Manufactures of India," by T. M. 
Mukhauji, Calcutta, 1S8S. p. 265. 

SHELLWORK AND MOTHER-OF-PEARL IN FURNITURE AND JEWELRY. 

Some excellent examples of Damascus inlaid pearl work were those shown by 
Lockwood DePorest in the Manufactures building (see PI. 23). These consisted of 
chests, some of which dated from the early part of the century, in which diamond- 
shaped pieces of mother-of-pearl were set in carved brown wood; also some very fine 
examples with floral and arabesque designs in mother-of-pearl work. They form a very 
pleasing contrast when inlaid in the dark-brown wood used throughout the East in 
making settees, chairs, and other objects of Oriental furniture. These are now regular 
articles of commerce, and are quite extensively imported into the United States. 

Pearl inlaid musical instruments are not infrequently seen. A number are exhib- 
ited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Hew York City, in the Brown and Drexel 
collections. Among these may be mentioned Turkish and Persian tambouras, etc., 
inlaid with pearl in dark -brown wood, in the favorite Oriental style — the pearl pieces 
being mainly lozenge-shaped or in simple geometrical forms. More elaborate pat- 
terns are seen in Italian work, particularly in several mandolins of the eighteenth 
century, in which both bowl and stem are richly inlaid in somewhat peculiar and 
characteristic, forms. 

A unique piece of American pearl-work is a mandolin exhibited at the World's 
Fair, by the makers, Lyon & Healy of Chicago (see PI. 22), which was purchased by 
the proprietor of the Kimball Opera Contique Company as a present for Corinue. It 
was entirely covered with inlaid work, four kinds of pearl being employed, of different 
shades and tints, inlaid in metal. More than 2,000 pieces of the several materials were 
used, and 255 days' labor expended in making it, in cutting, fitting, and polishing 
the pieces of pearl. It was valued at $1,500. 

Some years ago there was shown in New York City — probably at the old Crystal 
Palace exhibition — a piano in which the entire keyboard was of pearl, the body of 
the keys being of ordinary white mother-of-pearl, and the fiats and sharps of green 
abalone (Haliotix), producing an extremely rich and pleasing effect. 

One of the most remarkable examples of American pearl inlaying was a grand 
piano made by Cottier & Company, of New York city, which is a study of the old 
Spanish method of inlaying mother-of-pearl with tortoise shell and colored woods iu 
a hard wood. Plate 20 represents what is probably the most remarkable example of 
inlaying of woodwork ever made in the United States. This is only one of a number 
of pieces, all varying in design, marking, coloring and workmanship, that this leading 
firm of woodworkers and decorators have produced from time to time. 

Another exposition piece — an electrolier designed by Mr. Louis C. Tiffany— is 
inlaid with flowers, each petal formed by one of the natural segments of the chambers 



44S BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION 

of the pearly nautilus [Nautilus pompilius), while t lie background is inlaid with bits 
of abalone shell. 

There may also be mentioned a table in the same exhibit, where the flowers, forming 
part of a decorative border upon the top of the table, are made of pearl oyster shell. 

Some line specimens of inlaying in furniture were shown in the Italian section by 
Ferdinaudo Pogiani, where mother-of-pearl is used in diamond- shaped and hexago- 
nal forms, in the Oriental manner, as well as for entire figures inlaid with ivory and 
ebony, as a decoration in connection with his line furniture. 

Among many striking applications of pearl-bearing shells to decoration and fur- 
niture may be noted, in particular, some shown by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating 
Company in the Manufactures Building. One of these, a specimen of high art, is an 
ecclesiastical table. Beneath the edge of the nieiisa, or top of the altar, which con- 
sists of a single slab of Carrara marble, is a design of four circles, each containing 
one of the Apocalyptic emblems of the four evangelists. On the altar frontal, on 
either side, of the center, are two larger circles, each containing a monogram of the 
Holy Name imbedded in a background of rosary beads made from the Fiji Island 
pearl shell. The monogram is further enriched by inlays of gold and precious stones, 
and made to appear iridescent by the addition of the green Japanese mother-of-pearl 
(abalone shell). (See Pis. 22 and 24.) 

A tabernacle door is beautifully ornamented with several kinds of pearl shell from 
South Africa and from Terra del Fuego and Japan. 

On the walls of the chapel, containing part of the above-named exhibit, the green 
abalone shells were made to simulate peacock's feathers with wonderful success. 

Tiffany <\ ( !o. exhibited a very fine piece of work in the dial of a large astronomical 
clock. This dial measures 20 by 30 inches. The shells are arranged in such a manner 
as to give sky and sea effects. Inlays of mother-of-pearl shells were also used in 
elaborate scrolls on some boxes made of shark skin from Long Island Sound and Java, 
the shark skin being stained green, yellow, and other colors, and polished. 

One of the most interesting objects of pearl inlay was a small round earthenware 
pot in the collection in the Cliff Dwellers' exhibit, immediately west of the Anthropo- 
logical Building. In this earthen pot, irregular squares of Unio shell (fresh-water 
mussel) have been inlaid in hard clay in regular layers, the clay between the pieces of 
pearl being about the width of the pieces themselves, and producing the effect of 
mosaic. This is the only object so decorated that has ever been found. 

Pearl shell has also been utilized in the beautifying of church vestments. Two 
varieties have been specially used; one form, employed in the decoration of a miter, is 
peculiarly adapted to the embroiderer's art, as the protuberances on the true pearl 
oyster, sawn out and pierced, or mounted in a metal border and pierced, can 
jeadily be fastened to the embroidery w ith silk or wire. The other form is beads 
made from the Fiji Island pearl shell, which have been successfully used in the 
decoration of a chasuble. The natural surface of the shell is not ground down; only 
the sides are shaped, thus giving a more pearly appearance than if the whole were 
polished. In Russia, for centuries, this method of embellishing ecclesiastical gar 
ments has been practiced with wonderful success. The treasury of the Metropolitans 
in the Kremlin at Moscow contains an immense number. These applications seem a 
curious "reversion" to the Indian pearl-covered mantle referred to previously, as 
indicated by the cut pieces of mother-of-pearl in the American Museum of Natural 
History. 



PEARLS AND PEARL SHELLS. 449 

Some of I be finest known examples of inlaid pearl work arc in the canopies of the 
Hie tombs at Allahabad, India. These date from t lie sixteenth century, the pearl 
work being a thin veneer set in black wood, and t lie on lamentation consisting of elab 
male Persian designs. 

In the Siamese pavilion were numerous examples of inlays, minute diamond 
shaped pieces of abalone shell set in a black, pitch-like lacquer. This is similar to the 
lacquer work that the same people make, in which they use tiny bits of looking-glass 
made of remarkably thin glass with a coating of mercury on one side. 

In the Chinese section there were some tine specimens of what Jacquemart, in his 
" Ilistoiredelc PorcelaineChinois," describes as l<tc<jii< burgcmdfa, belonging to the. reign 
of Kong- Hi, in the seventeenth century, and made in the porcelain works at Ching-te- 
chew. They consist of an application of black lacquer ona specially prepared unglazed 
porcelain, the lacquer inlaid with thin flakes of pink and other iridescent colors of 
mother-of-pearl. Thin leaves of gold and silver are inlaid and introduced as parts 
of the decoration. Through time the silver has generally become black. This method 
of inlaying is now carried on at Canton and in Cochin China, forming quite an indus- 
try, wooden vessels and dishes being used instead of the unglazed porcelain. 

The embellishing of ironwood, teak, and other wood at Canton forms quite an 
industry, the shell being set in wood in the form of leaves, flowers, and arabesque 
designs blending with the carved and plain surfaces of the chairs, settees, and other 
objects in which the shell work is inlaid. 

The Japanese have added to the inlaying process the painting of mother-of-pearl 
work with lacquers. This work dates from the time of Km in and Ritzui, the greatest 
artists in this line, who, although they did not create the ait, founded quite a school 
for this style of ornamentation. The abalone shell is used to represent haw I horn or 
other floral designs, and the lacquer is brought close to the pearl work, the two 
blending one with the other, and the, pearl itself occasionally exquisitely lacquered. 

Another for f ornamentation consists in inlaying, into the lacquer, squares of 

mother-of-pearl, s inuteasto form an unbroken iridescence; also microscopic petal- 
like bits arranged as Mowers in transparent, lacquers. Beautiful examples of such 

Japanese work, in various styles, may lie s a1 the .Metropolitan Museum of Art in 

New York City. In the .Moore collection, for instance, is a casket with butterflies ill 
abalone on gold lacquer; another with leaves and flowers in mother-of-pearl, also 
on gold lacquer; and some small pieces so closely inlaid with pearl (hat nothing 
else appears, and the most exquisite effects arc produced by the dilferent kinds 
employed, the ground being a sort of mosaic of the brightest green abalone. and the 
patterns inlaid in rich pinkish and lilac-tinted mother-of-pearl. 

As so little has appeared in the United States concerning the utilization of pearl 
shells of any kind in lacquer or similar industries, the following notes* from the works 
of Prof. ,1. J. Rein, of the University of Berlin, and Prof. Christopher Dresser possess 
great interest : 

Ao-gainuri or ao-gai-togi-dashi, mother-of-pearl lacquer, in which the coarsely 
or finely pulverized mother-of-pearl from varieties of Trochusand of Baliotis is used. 
If whole surfaces are to be evenly adorned, the process is like that in which metal 
powder isemployed. If, on the contrary, definitely outlined decorations are intended, 



* Sea also article on "Lacquer," bj Russell Sturgis, in Johnson's Universal Encyclopaedia, 70I. 
iv, New York. 1894, 

I.e. li. 1893—29 



450 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

stencil patterns of tin toil are pasted on the surface of the ground work, and the open 
spaces arc coated with ro iro-iuiishi, and then sprinkled with ao-gai or mother- 
of-pearl powder. When dry the patterns are removed, and the whole is coated with a 
mixture of ro iro and se-shime-urushi, and then the strewn mother-of-pearl is carefully 
rubbed with magnolia charcoal. A second coat of the same lacquer varnish follows, 
then, a second rubbing, and finally the polishing. The same course is pursued in the 
simpler work of strewing the whole surface evenly with mother-of-pearl powder. The 
beautiful green and violet iridescence of small mother-of-pearl pieces on the lacquer 
wares decorated with it depends on its varying position toward the light and the 
uneven coating of the transparent lacquer varnish. 

Shari-nashi-ji, i. e. tin (dual) pearl ground. — The tin dust (or bronze powder 
instead) is strewn witli a little sieve, evenly or in stripes and figures, on the moist coat 
of naka-nuri and when dry covered with a coat of se-shime. With this it takes a 
brown color, like the scattered powder of a precious metal. The gold ground becomes 
lighter yellow and more lustrous with age. the scattered tin or bronze dust on the 
contrary grows darker and duller, as may be easily observed in many of the common 
Japanese lacquer wares. It is to be understood that the strewing of metal powder 
does not finish the work, but that a coat of transparent lacquer and the polishing 
process must follow. 

simple lacquer wares, ornamented with inlaid work. — J rank this group next to 
the preceding, because its execution, although demanding some skill, does not, any 
more than the foregoing, necessitate a real artistic talent. The precious metals also 
are either not at all. or only exceptionally, employed in this. The iidaid mother-of- 
pearl work, ao-gai zaiku, as cabinets, boxes, dishes, etc.. which are brought in such 
numbers to Europe and made chiefly at Nagasaki, belong principally to this class. 
It is customary to incrust even the finest lacquer wares with mother-of-pearl, ivory, 
and precious metals, and to form from them reliefs of flowers and other natural objects. 

This branch of lacquer industry is already old, as articles in the Dutch, Dresden, 
and other collections testify. The common ao-gai comes from the inside of the shell 
of the ilaliotis. each shell yielding only one thin plate. The finer or nia-gai ao-gai, 
i. c, ao-gai imitation, is the product of the large Trochus, and conies principally from 
the Riu-kiu islands. Both kinds (in Trochus, the last convolution) are scaled off in 
thin, transparent sheets, in a painstaking, primitive way. 

The mother-of-pearl sheets are laid on the design, which is pricked through with 
India ink and brush. The colors (Prussian blue, gamboge, and a mixture of the two 
for green, also sienna, carmine, carthamine, etc.) are rubbed together with hot glue 
water and laid on with the brush according to the pattern, on the right places in the 
mother-of-pearl. When dry. the painted portions are covered with silver foil laid on 
with glue water and again dried. Then the mother-of-pearl is cut with a sharp chisel 
into the shapes designated on its opposite side (leaves, flowers, etc.), with their cor- 
responding transparent colors. These are glued on the dull groundwork of vases, 
plates, cabinets, etc.. and all the depressed intervals filled up with black lacquer. 
Then the whole surface, including the inlaid work, is covered with two coats of trans- 
parent varnish, and if necessary rubbed with charcoal and polished. The underlying 
silver l'oil is used to protect the colors on the under side of the mother-of-pearl from 
the lacquer, and to bring them out more clearly; but this is done only in the more 
valuable articles. Instead of mother-of-pearl, an inlay of tin is sometimes used, 
which is treated, of course, differently, and then never loses its color and polish. 



PEARLS AND PEARL SHELLS. 451 

Ao-gai-zaiku, mother-of-pearl /cork. — Pearls and mother-of-pearl consist of thin 
laminae of carbonate of lime with a little organic substance. But while they are 
found in concentric layers in the pearls, in the latter the lamina- follow the direction 
or trend of the shell, yet in such a way that even in flat mussel and snail shells they 
lie somewhat inclined to the surface. The luster proceeds from the reflection of light 
and the iridescence or play of color from the interference of the rays reflected from 
the projecting edges of the thin laminae or blades and the somewhat deeper parts. 
(The color change or iridescence of mother -of-pearl, consequently, is a phenomenon of 
interference which inheres in the structure, and is analogous to the colors of diffrac- 
tion spectra produced by ruling very fine lines upon glass plates, etc.) 

Furniture inlaid with mother-of-pearl is very popular in Turkey and throughout 
the entire Orient, but particularly in farther India and China, [n Japan it is used 
mainly for decorating lacquer wares. A product of the country, called ao-gai 
(awogai), used in thin sheets, is distinguished by its magnificent iridescence in all 
the colors of the rainbow, and is obtained mainly from the smooth inside of the larger 
varieties of ear shell (Haliotis japonica Reeve, H. gigantea Chemn.), called awabi. 
A still more valuable sort goes by the name of ao-gai-magai. i. e., imitation ao-gai. It 
is formed of lamina? scarcely 3 centimeters broad, and is said to come from the Kiu- 
kiu islands, from a kind of Nautilus. The shell of the Sazaye ( Turbo cornutw 
Chemn.) also yields mother-of-pearl. 

The polishing of the mother-of-pearl, as observed in Nagasaki, is nut scientifi- 
cally conducted, since there is m> facilitation of the work such as is afforded by the 
heavy grindstone, revolving vertically on its axis. The thick, curved outer edge of 
the Haliotis shell is first removed up to the row of holes, by means of pincers, ham- 
mer, and chisel; then the remaining part is ground on a line-grained grindstone, 
sprinkled with water, till onlyathin transparent lamina remains. It is a very weari- 
some work, and one man can polish only eighteen pieces a day. Each sheet costs from 
2 to C sen, according to size and fineness. These thin sheets or plates, as well as the 
mother-of-pearl dust of various degrees of fineness, obtained from the waste, are now 
used by the ao-gai-shi, or mother-of-pearl workmen, for decorating lacquer wares. 

The inlaying of pearl in lacquer is effected almost exactly as we inlay our papier- 
mache work, the process differing only in detail. The pieces of pearl from which the 
parts to be inlaid are (ait are very thin, and can be used like tracing paper. Before a 
workof this kind is begun, a drawing id' the pattern is mad eon a sheet of paper; this 
drawing is transferred to the box or tray upon which the pattern is to he wrought. 
Little sheets of pear] are now placed over those parts which arc to appear in this 
lustrous material: the forms covered by the sheets of pearl are traced upon them, and 
then theyare removed. "With a curious chisel-like knife, the pearl is next cut into the 
desired shapes, and these are stuck by lacquer in their respective positions. After all 
are in place, the whole surface is covered with repeated coats of lacquer, by which the 
pearl is entirely hidden. By grinding, a smooth surface is then secured, and the pearl 
again appears, but is now level with the general surface. The pattern is again trans- 
ferred to the surface, having been titled to the bits of pearl so that thej may take their 
right places. 

Besides this ra den or mosaic work -with thin sheets of mother-of-pearl, thicker 



"Japan," bj Prof. Christopher Dresser, page 362. 



452 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

pieces are ground and engraved as a Sower, an egg, or some other design, and made 
to serve, like ivory, as an inlay in raised gold lacquer work. The making of brooches 
out of this material, however, and turning buttons and other articles of jewelry on 
the lathe, are scarcely known. 

An enterprising New York firm utilized in a novel way all the available pearl. 

sheets, or leaves, as are, termed the paper like pieces o!' ear shell, or niralii, as it is 

called in Japan, where, in preparing the abalone shell for export, they break oil' the 
thick edge, or "ear-piece," and reduce the rest almost to the thinness of paper, and 
then polish. These thin sheets, or leases, were ingeniously inserted for windows or 
lor sk\ effects on photographs made on glass, the plates being views of the World's 
Fair buildings, ami were sold in great quantities. 



SHELL CARVINGS AND CAMEO WORK. 

Among the most beautiful pearl work maybe noted the high-relief cameos carved 
on mother-of-pearl shells, seen in the Italian sect ion and elsewhere. Here advantage 
is taken of the difference of tint in the inner and outer portions of the dark variety 
(Tahitian pearl shells) to cut cameos, where groups of carved figures '■> inches in 
diameter in white pearl are raised upon a background of darker pearl, producing a 
peculiarly eleganl effect. Cameo work is also shown on the pink conch of the West 
Indies [Strombus gigas), where deeper and paler shades in the shell afford similar 
opportunity for relief designs. Some magnificent specimens of carved Cassis cornuta 

(queen conch) were in the exhibit of l.'occo Morabito, of Naples, who, among other 
line examples, had one immense group of figures on a conch, representing scenes in 
British history. This required two years' work. 

The firm Decaro, Of Naples, had many remarkably line cameos, as well as carved 
shells representing Columbus, Diana, and Neptune. The firm Santa Maria (Koine 
and Florence) and Michel Piscione showed remarkably line carved conch shells; and 

Leopoldo Pelissier had, among others, one depicting the Columbus caravels, another 
representing the landiug of Columbus. The latter has been purchased by Gardiner 

(!. Hubbard, of Washington. D. C. On the other side of the shell is a medallion 
head of Columbus (stc Pis. 20 and lit). Throughout the entire Italian section could 

be seen many interesting examples of the utili/.ati< f the common conch and 

the queen conch, mother of pearl and other shells, into various beautiful articles repre- 
senting industrial progress. 

An interesting exhibit is that of M. Toledo, the work which he terms Massaniello, 
a lava like material, surrounding which is a square frame made up of long pieces of 
the queen conch ( Cassis cornuta), ornamented with elaborate, delicate, and intricate 
figures and scrolls in cameo work. This piece is of (he highest artistic merit, and 
was one of the daintiest bits of carved shell work in the Exposition. 

The utilization Of mother-of-pearl \'of carving was also well illustrated in the 

exhibit of Dabdoub Brothers and by that in the Turkish Village. Here the polished 
mother of pearl shells are engraved with allegorical and ornamental designs and are 
known as Jerusalem shells, serving for trays, light screens, and similar objects. They 
are also cut into paper-knives, spoons, etc.. and rounded into beads and strung to 
represent pearls, the beads being flat and the original nacreous surface being left 



PEARLS AND PEAltL SHELLS. 453 

to give a more pearly effect. They are quaintly carved into brooches and bracelets. 
In the Manufactures Building was exhibited a fine crucifix several feel in height, and 
other interesting objects. 

Leitner and Saloman showed a large quantity of mother-of-pearl shells and a 
series of works in engraved mot her of pearl — handles, paper cutters, and like objects — 
from Australia. 

In the Anthropological Building, forming part of the Ward collection of mollusks, 
were tine examples of Pumas from the various parts of the world ; lour specimens of 
the pearl oyster, Avicula( Meleagrina )margaritifera Linn., from the Indian Ocean, which 
are remarkable examples of carving by hand, and some beautifully carved examples 
of Avioula macroptera Lam., enriched with a circular disc like ornamentation; also 
fine examples of Avicula Mrundo and Avicula sterna Gould. 

In the building of the French colony of New Caledonia were shown fine examples 
of engraving of mother-of-pearl shells, the relief being obtained by filling in the 
cutting with printers' ink. The subjects were in the style of steel engravings, the 
reproductions of famous paintings. The artist who made them was an unfortunate 
steel-plate engraver, who tor some forgery was sent to New Caledonia, and when not 
pardoned as soon as he expected, took his own life. His pearl engraving was the 
finest that it has been my fortune to see anywhere. 

Another mode of shell ornamentation, of a type related to cameo work, may acre 
be referred to, viz, the carving of Nautilus shells by some of the Pacific Islanders. 
The outer colored layer is removed down to a surface of uniform dead white, somewhat 
creamy in tint. . In this, patterns are cut down further to the pearly layers below, and 
when finished the entire- shell is thus covered with elaborately carved designs, llowers, 
scroll work, arabesques, etc., raised in the cream white upon a ground of pearl in a 
very beautiful manner. This is also frequently done by etching with acids. 

One of the finest collections illustrating the utilization of the mother-of-pearl, 
abalone, and other shells, was an exhibit prepared by the Smithsonian Institution. 
Among these may be mentioned a series illustrating the evolution of pearl buttons, 
breastpins, earrings, inlaid cane handles, umbrella handles, Cardcases, and boxes, made 
of the shells of Haliotis cracherodii, and of the true mother-of-pearl shell, Meleagrina 
margaritifera, and of other shells. 

An interesting exhibit illustrating the mother of pearl industry in Austria was 
that of Carl Storck's successor, at Vienna. This consisted of beautiful carved mother 
of-pearl shells, among which may be mentioned a very interesting frame made of the 
mother-of-pearl and conch shell, and a large series of buttons and other carved orna- 
ments. The Royal Imperial Austrian Museum of Arts and Industries, of Vienna, 
exhibited some remarkable shell objects, one a pearl casket, 13 by ID by 10 inches, 
made of white and greenish black mother-of-pearl, a superb piece of workmanship 
designed by Prof. .1. Storck and executed by K. Krehan, of Vienna. Worthy of men- 
tion in the same exhibit were a collarette and brooch made of elongated and acorn- 
shaped beads of yellow-greenish-tinted mother of-pearl, the necklace and brooch being 
of gold and silver, designed by Storck and made by Bacher iV Son, of Vienna. 

Probably the most superb piece of pearl work in the Fair was a platter, 20 by 15 
inches and 4 inches deep, representing the Danube in silver gilt, and embellished 
with carved figures made of successive layers and pieces of mother of pearl, yellow, 
pink, and other colors of conch, abalone. etc. The central figure is the Danube, and 



If) 1 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES PISH COMMISSION. 

various busts representing the several provinces of the empire. The central group 
includes eighl busts and eight fruit groups which embellish the dish, all the shellwork 
being placed on a background of lapis lazuli. This was designed by Professors 
Storck, Karger, and Schwartz, and executed by Dorflinger & Brothers, Frankfort- 

mi the .Main. 

Another design by Prof. Storck is a frame of Louis xvi style, inlaid entirely in 
gray, white, and black mother-of-pearl, and pink and yellow conch, 1.'! by S inches in 
size, executed by Rudolph Furtener, of Vienna. In the same exhibit were a col- 
larette of four rows of mother-of-pearl beads with drops, set in silver and gold enamel: 

also a necklace and brooch, both designed by Prof. Storck. A collarette of five 

strands of sea pearls that alternate with panels of silver gilt was designed by Prof. 
Storck and executed by Bachner i\ Son. of Vienna. A casket L2 by 15 by 10 inches 
of ebony, mahogany, and olivewood, decorated with mother of pearl, was designed 
and made by Anton .Michel of Vienna. 



MISCELLANEOUS USES OF SHELL MATERIAL. 

Great quantities of mother-of-pearl cat's eyes were sold, mounted in silver or some 
other metal, and many people believed them to be true oriental cat's-eyes. These are 
generally made out of dark mother-of-pearl shells, abalone, or some other dark-colored 

species. By cutting across a thick layer of such shell and polishing the piece into a 
hemisphere the light condenses upon the dome into a band, giving a cat's-eye effect. 
A number of green Trochus shells were made into napkin rings by cutting oblique 
sections across the large diameter of the shell, leaving the apex or spire of the shell 
as well as the main whorl to receive the napkin. 

With reference to the imitation cat's eyes and the cutting of beads, etc., as also 
other peculiar uses, the following notes may have interest here. They are taken from 
a consular report on these pearl industries made by Mr. Edward Bedloe, U.S. consul 
at Amoy. 

In the cutting of beads, buttons, studs, ami other small articles from shells of a 
high luster, there are some fifty species utilized, of which the Chinese mussel and 
oyster are the most prominent. One variety gives a, black, blue, or white button, 
similar to I lie cat's eyes of ( Yylon, and named after these, Amoy or ( 'anton cat's-eyes. 
A second variety is of a pale fawn ranging to transluceiicy , called white cat's eyes. 
A third is half an inch in diameter and resembles light-brown onyx. The black and 
white cat's-eyes arc used for bracelets, necklaces, ladies' dress buttons, and also as 
dress ornaments similar to pearls, 'flu' balls arc st rung and used as necklaces, brace- 
lets, earrings, and rosaries. Though apparently fragile, they are really tough and 
very durable. Their price depends upon some inscrutable Chinese rule, and varies 
from half a cent too cents apiece. When mounted as buttons the black cat's-eyes 
area pleasing ornament when worn on a black-silk dress. The gradations of color 
are brought out into line relief, and the suggestion of blue, which runs through the 
shell, gives a color to the somber silk, which is very pleasing, 'flic best effect is 
when they are sewed closely together in a double line upon a vest or waist, when they 
seem to be a line and brilliant stripe. A curious way of setting both cat's eyes and 
onyx balls, practiced by the Chinese, consists in alternating them with small carved 



PEAltLS AND PEARL SHELLS. 455 

fruit stones. It is rather attractive as an oddity, but the lack of color deprives it of 
any aesthetic value. 

Among the quaint things shown by the Chinese* arc the cups, saucers, and 
spoons made from the larger types of tropical univalve shells. The finest specimens 
come from the southern Philippines and the next from Borneo, but good ones are 

found in the Pescadores and Formosa. It would seem as if the original idea was 
Malayan and that the other races of the Orient were merely imitators. In making 
cups and saucers the conchs are sawed through in about the same manner as 
cocoanuts are when intended for dippers. They are cleaned and polished, and the 
convex surface ground slightly so as to rest on a talde without spilling or tilting. The 
spoons are made by sawing the round superior surface of Hie conch at such an angle 
as partially to intersect the spindle or major axis (columella), which becomes the handle 
of the completed spoon. According to the size of the shell, the result is a dessert 

spoon, a tablespoon, or a ladle capable of containing a quart. The interior is of a 

rich sulphur, salmon, or orange color, or of a pearly lU8ter. It has no angles where 
dirt can accumulate, and is about the handsomest natural S] U thai [ have ever seen. 

They stand heat and cold well, but are attacked by vinegar, lemon juice, and other 

acids. flic best market in which lo obtain them isCebu, in the Philippine Islands. 

i 

FRESH-WATER PEARLS AND PEARL SHELLS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

'I'he abundance of the pearly shells of the family (JnionidSB, commoniy known as 
fresh water mussels, in y_M t lie lakes, streams, and rivers of the United Stales, makes 
them quite important as a possible source of material in the ornamental arts. Refer 
ence has been made at \arioits point s in I his art iele to fresh water pearis and their 

use in jewelry, both in this country and Europe, and to the enormous numbers 
gathered in prehistoric times by some of the mound builders of Ohio. As we possess 

so .ureal a variety of these shells, so widely distributed over the. country, it seems 
desirable to bring together herca general review of all the material of this kind shown 
at the World's fair, and to lay stress on the value which it ma\ have for decorative 
work, and the importance of preserving and utilizing the supply so freely bestowed 

Upon our country and hitherto so little appreciated. 

Included in the references above made to various exhibits of pearls and pearl 
shell are the following: 

In the Tiffany exhibit in the Manufactures building: 'I'he prepared ami injected 
specimen of Margaritana mart/a i it i/'mi, from IJohemia, showing a pearl in place 
between the mantle and the shell; (Jnio pearls from Nova Scotia; seven of those from 
near Paterson, N". J., gathered in Hie first river pearl excitement in L856j and some 
of the prehistoric pearls from the Turner mounds of Ohio. 

There was also a large collect ion of various species of I ' nios, from the small shells 
to the magnificent valves measuring nearly S inches in length, in a series in which one 
valve Of each specimen is polished and the other in its natural state, to show the com 

mercial possibilities of these shells. 

In the museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences there is displayed, 
in their local collection of the mollusca of Long Island, a remarkable Specimen of 



Repoi i of l . s. i loneul Edward Bedloe, at Amoj . 



45 R BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

Anodon, with both valves polished and beautifully pearly, from the lake in Prospect 
Park in that city. The valves are about (I inches long. A number of these splendid 
Anodons iiave lately been found iu this lake, and the fact that they can thus occur 
shows how readily these niollusks could be propagated and their shells made au article 
of commercial value. 

In the Swedish building, Augusta. Mollenberg, the royal court jeweler, exhibited 
twelve fresh-water pearls, weighing from 4 tc 10 grains each, eight mounted on a chal- 
ice and two on au ecclesiastical bowl. A Norwegian jeweler exhibited several dozen 
pearls, white and faintly pink, from Norwegian rivers. 

In the English section of the Manufactures building Edmund Johnson, jeweler 
royal of Ireland, exhibited several fresh-water pearls, weighing over 10 grains each, 
from Irish rivers, mounted in a brooch in his collection of representations of Irish 
gold antiquities. 

In the Mexican section, in the Fisheries building, from the district of Jederal, with 
a series of pearl shells from the west coast of Nueva Leon, was another of freshwater 
Uuios, some measuring nearly 10 inches iu length. 

In the southeastern gallery of the Anthropological building there were displayed 
about fifty specimens of Uuios and mother-of-pearl shells, with one valve of each shell 
polished. 

In the German section of the Manufactures building, and elsewhere, were shown 
Unio shells from the Elster, in Saxony, and the Bohemian rivers, frequently polished 
on both sides and made into beautiful little portmanteaus, satchels, etc. The shells 
are often ground very thin, so that colored photographs or designs may be shown 
through them. 

A very interesting series of mounted fresh-water pearls was shown from Wiscon- 
sin, Tennessee, Ohio, and Texas. Among these are some absolutely white, pink, and 
brown pearls. All those from Wisconsin are very fine, possessing a marvelous metallic 
luster. The pearl fisheries of that State have produced at least $250,000 worth of 
pearls since 1889. 

in the Mining building, Bunde & Upmeyer, of Milwaukee, exhibited a case of 
several hundred Unio pearls, some of them very tine, of the various colors found in 
the rivers of Wisconsin. 

The New York State exhibit, in the gallery of the Anthropological building, con- 
tained a superb collection of Uuios, beautifully mounted and well labeled, belonging 
to the State cabinet. This collection embraces those of the Rev. John Walton, Shelly 
G. Crump, C. E. Beecher, and others. In the south gallery, forming a portion of the 
exhibit of Prof. Ward, of Rochester, were some magnificent specimens of Unios. 
Superb examples of Dipsas plicatus Lea, from Lake Riwa and from central China, 
containing pearl figures of Buddha and flat pearl-like disks, produced by inserting 
between the mantle and the shell of the mollusk small tin-foil figures of Buddha, or 
small hemispherical disks, which in time become coated by the pearly nacre, were 
shown in the folklore collection of G. F. Kunz and in the Ward collection in the 
south gallery (see PI. 40), both now in the Field Columbian Museum. 

This method of producing figures and symbols that could be used for ornaments 
is one that would recompense any American who would produce the same results in 
some of our richly colored and brilliantly lined Unios, 



PEARLS AND PEARL SHELLS. 457 



CULTIVATION OF THE PEARL OYSTER. 

Iii the Japanese section, K. Mikimoto, of Toba, Shima, Japan, made a remarkably 
interesting exhibit of pearl .shells from the Bay of Ago, province of Shima, on the 
Pacific coast of central Japan, near the famous temple of Ise. The Bay of Ago is 
about ii miles long and 2 miles broad, and, penetrating inland for some distance, its 
waters are always calm. The pearl oyster is abundant along its shores at a depth of 
from 1 to 6 fathoms, where the bottom is sandy, with a scant growth of seaweeds. 

Little can be ascertained as to when the fishing of pearl oysters began in this bay. 
It is believed, however, to have commenced some three or four centuries ago. 

In about 1880, pearl fishing in this bay was very actively carried on, and although 
pearls were comparatively cheap at that time, the annual yield amounted to $10,000. 
But too great an activity on the part of fishermen led to a depletion of the fisheries, 
so that the yield gradually decreased until in 1885 the value of pearls obtained was 
less than $1,000. 

Fearing the extinction of this valuable shellfish, the Fisheries Association of the 
district took steps to restore the industry by establishing a closed season, etc., and, 
at the advice of the late Admiral Y. Yanagi, president of the Japan Fisheries Society, 
of Profs. K. Mitsukuri and C. Saraki, of the Imperial University, and of Kishinouye, 
the zoologist of the department of agriculture and commerce, tried with success the 
experiment of collecting and rearing the spat on tiles, stones, logs, ropes, etc. By 
the adoption of these various means the fishery has largely recovered its lost ground, 
and for the past two or three years the yield of pearls has been restored to the amount 
obtained at the active period of the industry. Mr. Mikimoto entertains every hope 
of greatly extending and promoting the industry in the future by systematic cultiva- 
tion of this kind. 

The chief source of pearls in Japan is the pearl oyster (Aviciila martcnsii), but 
the mussel (Mytilws craxsitcsta), the oyster, the sea-ear or abalone (Haliotis gigantea), 
and the fresh-water pearl mussel (Dipsas plicatus) also produce their special pearls. 
In Japan, as in Europe, pearls from the pearl oyster are especially valued on account 
of their brilliant luster and pure color. Those with the silvery hue command higher 
prices than those of the golden hue. Pearls from the mussel, the pearl mussel, etc., are 
of various tints: those from the oyster are usually milky-white; while those from the 
sea-ear (Haliotis) and abalone shell have usually a golden tinge. 

Mr. Mikimoto's exhibit illustrated the growth of pearl shells from one to nine years. 
This shellfish spawns from June to August; therefore some of the shells exhibited 
could not have been more than a few weeks old. These continue to grow until the 
following November, when the approach of the cold season checks them for a time. 
In March of the year following, growth again commences, and on this account Febru- 
ary is considered the end of the " pearl-oyster year." In other words, young shells 
collected in the first season, up to and including the following February, are called 
first-year shells; those obtained from March of the second year to February of the 
third year are known as second-year shells, etc. 



Note.— Articles figured on plates 29,30,32,33,34,35,36,37,39 (see page 440) are in the Tiffany- 
Higinbotham Collection in the Field Columbian .Museum. Chicago, Illinois. 



Bull. U. S. F. C 1893 Pearls and Pearl Shells 



Plate 19. 





OBJECTS IN SILVER, IN WHICH SOME PART OF THE FIGJRE IS MADE OF A LARGE OR ENT ,- BAROQUE PEARL. 
Exhibited by Richard Horstman, of Berlin, for Mesirt Heitel & Sohn, Hanau. 



Bull U S. F C. 1893 Pearls and Pearl Shells. 



Plate 20. 




SARDONYX HELMET SHELL REPRESENTING THE LANDING OF COLUMBUS, A COPY OF THE BAS RELIEF ON 
THE MONUMENT TO CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS IN NEW YORK. 

Carved by E. Campi, of Rome, who obtained the award at Rome for this fine carved cameo-shell This shell Is un.que, »nd will 
not be reproduced. Owned by Gardiner G Hubbard, Esq , Washington, D. C. 



, U. S. F. C, 1893. Pearls and Pearl Shells. 



Plate 21. 




SARDONYX HELMET SHELL, REVERSE. PORTRAIT OF COLUMBUS. 



Bull USF C. 1893. Pearls and Pearl Shells. 



Plate 22. 




TABERNACLE DOOR, TIFFANY GLASS AND DECORATING COMPANY. 

Three center pieces in central ornament and four circles at each end, natural pearly pieces of mother-of-pearl ; four oblong ornaments 
above and below circles, rounded Xiix/ilim pompiltlUt; 'four other circles with oblong or irregular centers, natural beach pebbles, 
used for translucent effect — an origin a rsi if natural objects. 




MANDOLIN, LYON 8c HEALY, CHICAGO. 

Made of two thousand separate pieces of various materials, including four distinct qualities of pearls, the effects being produced by 

the shading nf the different pearls. 



Bull U S F C. 1893. Pearls and Pearl Shells. 



Plate 23. 




\\N\W /77///// X XXVsSN S777//& XVSSggS. %&»&-' 






OAK SCREEN INLAID WITH MOTHER-OF PEARL ONE-TENTH DIAMETER 
Damascus work, made tor World s Columbian Exposition by Lockwood De Forest, New York 




OLD WOOD CHEST, INLAID WITH MOTHER-OF-PEARL ONENINTH DIAMETER 
Damascus work, 75 years old Exhibited by Lockwood De Forest, New York 



U S F C 1893 Pearls and Pearl Shells 



Plate 24. 



3 a 

o o 

S 5 



re -; 
2?. 




Bull U. S F C. 1893 Pearls and Pearl Shells 



Plate 25. 




SILVER RELIQUAIRE 

Rococo style. Bohemian work of the seventeenth century, inlaid with Bohemian river pearls, garnets, and turquoises. Rock crystal cover over 

lelic Limoges enamel on reverse side. 



Bull ll ■, i I 1803 l'. .-J ii i Pi ii sh.ll. 



Plati 





'I 







I \ I I i ' I Pi ■' ' " 



I'iaii 27, 




Bull. U S F.C.I 893. Pea.ls and Peari Shells. 



Plate 28. 



o Z 
3 CI 



H > 

I o 




Bull. U. S. F, C. 1893 Pyuria and Pearl Shells 



Plate 29. 




PEARL OYSTER, Sieleagrina margaritifera, OBVERSE AND REVERSE, INNER AND OUTER valves. 
On the extenoi ar< group* ol it Iifferent spocios of i oral Size, valve with i oral, i 5 inches high, 7 mcrn. wide 



Bull U S F. C 1893 Poarliancl P„aH Sh,.n., 



Plate 30. 




PEARL OVbTER SHELLS WITH CORAI MI'iHIHl 

i l , 



c 



iN. 




^Hu& 





j 



THK.fiNIA PI I I (NAT A A., || III | 'I 



I I. S F,C, i»'" Piifli n d P 



I'l All II 



Hi 

iflBK* 



w; 



■ 





<•; 




& 4 






* J 






^ 









%^ 



HFFANN HIQINBO HAM COLLECTION 



' I p '< ■ \\ i" ■ ; ■ plpi 

i i '. , i ■ 

(C j F Fin.t, wit* i p".it I, ii i i |< 

i | . , i . ■ ■ .'. i i ■ . i i 

(E) Four pi ■ ■ i ! 

{F) Ott" i bo 

fQ) Fn I . iti ■ pi i Spanli H id ruddy coppi 

< H i Htn I ihapod pi 

( I) Ovtrou bomalis. 






I 1 1 ' ■■■■ i I pi ii flalioti i - "'• ■ 

■ ,. . . . . | . . t 

M. ■ 

i i j I ' ■ i 

(M) < » » , , | 

, 1 1 | i ■ . | ' - ! ■ ppoi 

(Oj ttl p«i i- ■ ■ ■' I ■ i ■' 

(P) Intorli 



Bull. U S F. C 1893 Ptwli »nd P««rl Sh«ll< 



Plate 32. 




In) MELEA&RINA M ARGAR IT I FERA, WITH INCLUDED PARASITIC FISH Lov I I 

(&) MELEAGRINA M ARGARIT I FERA, WITH INCLUDED PARASITIC FISH Lowor C«liforni« 



Bull U S F. C 1093. Pearls and Pearl Shells. 



Plate 33. 




PEARLY KNOB MtAeagrina mni'iaritifera. Six by five and a half inches Thursday Island Tahiti 




MOTHER-OF-PEARL SHELL WITH PEARLY KNOB WITH MONKEY-LIKE FACE 
Four and a half by four and a half inches. Thursday Island. Tahiti. 



Bull II S I '' " * '' "' Sl ' ' 



Pi mi 34 




P| AIM (I . ■'. II I 

Ono volvi I ring tv growing pearls and four nlaci vhoro | had I ttsched and had fill M Coaftl I West Australia 



Bull U. S. F. C. 189 3. Pearls ami Peat! Shells 



Plate 35. 





FRESH-WATER MUSSEL, UNIO, WITH DEEP PURPLISH-RED INTERIOR. 
Eight inches long. From Sugar River, Wisconsin. 



Bull. U SFC 1(193. Poarls and Peatl Sholla. 



Plate 36. 





FRESH WATER MUSSEL. UNIO, DEEP PURPLISH-REO INTERIOR 
Eight inches in length Suga R /V onain 



Bull. U S F i I6« < iv ll ...ii.. Shall! 



Plati i .' 




'^ 




PAIR 01 LARGE SHELLS, MoltttffHna writiftra MOTHER-OI PEARI 

l/Vocght, iv.'. ■ . b ..... i Li "" 



Bull U S. F C. 1893 Pearls and Pearl Shells 



Plate 38. 




ABALONE SHELL, Ualiotu rvfmenil, WITH PEARLY GROWTH RESEMBLING CAMELS HEAD, AND NEARLY 

TWO INCHES IN DIAMETER 

Fronn coast near San Diego County, California. 



Bull. U S . F C 1893 Pearle and Pearl Shells 



Plate 39. 




PEARL OYSTER Udeagrtna margariti/era iHOWING BORINGS WHICH THE SHELL HAS COVERED 

Si/ i./ f i " ' rich* I in iti. 



Bull. U. S. F C. 1893. Pearls and Pearl Shells. 



Plate 40. 





:■ 



%■ 




DIPSAS PLICATUS. rNTERIOR AND EXTERIOR. INTERIOR CONTAINING TINFOIL FIGURES OF BUDDHA. 
Four inches long Pearl coated figuro ol Buddha, obverse ind reverse showing concave depresi riginal , filled with tinfoil or w.ix 





DIPSAS PLICATUS, CONTAINING THREE STRINGS OF BEADS WITH A PEARLY COATING. 
Both from temples in Souchow, China 



Bull. U. S F C. 1893 Pearls and Pearl Shells 



Plate 41. 





FRESH WATER MUSSEL itargaritana margarMfora. SHOWING PEARL INCLUDED BETWEEN MANTLE AND SHELL, 

IN THE LOWER RIGHT. HANO CORNER 

Spoctm.r. prepared by J I ' Prague From Botova River, B. 



PRODUCTION OF PRECIOUS STONES IN L898 



<-i:<> i :<.i. i'. ki \z 



PLATE I. 



I, Ml 



PLATE I. 

AMERICAN hums. 

\ Horj 1 : ropsliam, Maine. 

IS, Prehnite : Paterson, New Jer ej 

r. Turquoise ; Grant < 'oun< \ . New Mexioo. 

I). Turquoise; Santa Vo County, Now Mexico. 

I Tourmaline; Haddani Neolt, Connecticut. 

V, Rose quart/; Albanj . Maine. 

G. Sapphire; ¥ogo Gulch, Fergus County, Montana. 

602 



... 







^j g j fl 



AMERICAN GEMS. 



■ 



CO N T E N TS. 



■ 

Introduction 

Diamond 

United States •. 551 

South Aim.m 

Source of the diamond 

Origin of tho diamond 561 

Genesis of the diamond Mi'-! 

Australia 56d 

China 

RuSBia 

Carl industry of Bi i il 566 

Diamond cutting 567 

Diamond saw 

Corundum 568 

Sapphires in Montana 

Origin of corundum 569 

Production of corundum 570 

North Carolina .'.70 

Alaska 570 

Ontario 570 

Ruby 

Burma r»7:i 

Siam rv7:i 

Emerald and beryl :">7ii 

Tourmaline . . .' 577 

TurquoiBe 679 

Garuel 584 

i opaz 585 

olivine 586 

Zircon 586 

Quartz 587 

Rook crystal 587 

i lalifornia 587 

l 'l kiii 1 1 mi quartz 588 

Other varieties ■ iS * 

Chryaoprase 689 

Opal i Australian) 589 

Prosopite 591 

Thomson ite ". 591 

Chlorastrolite 592 

Moldavite 594 

Auvergne minerals 594 

KuHsia 596 

in 



I\ 



CONTENTS. 



( 'in 'inn milium and the carbides. 

Aiiiliiii.nl 

I'linlm I loll 
1 1 ii | >. >| I -. 



P„ , 

597 
508 

190 

600 



LLUSTR \TI<>\ 



l 'i \ 1 1 I. Vmuni .in noma 



602 



PRECIO US STDN ES, 

By < teORGE P. K u NX. 
inti;ip|ii CTION. 



So of llw salient features of tbe year are the finding of rock crys- 
tal ;ii Mokelumne Bill, California, of such purity and Bize as to almost 
rival the Japanese, and the successful cutting of these In the United 
States up in 7 inches m diameter; the increased output of Fergus 
County, Montana, sapphire mini's, and the yielding of line blue gems 
n 1 1 to 2 carats each, and iii«' discovery of a new locality where the stones 
are more varied in color than those of anj Known locality; the con 

tinued output of the New Mexican turquoise mines I the opening 

up of mines in Nevada; the finding of magnificent green and other 
colored tourmalines at Paris Hill, Maine, and Baddam Neck, Connec 
ticut; the increased sale of Australian opal; greater use or nil thefancj 

or semiprecious stones; the greater importati >f uncut diamonds, 

ninl the increase of I be diamond cutting industry in the United States; 

the unprecedented increase in the importatii f cul diai Is; the 

revival of the precious Btone industryin the United 8tates,and the 

positive great future advancu in the pii< f pearls and emeralds, and 

the advance in the price of diamonds. 

IMAMON l>. 

UNITKIJ STATES. 

No more diamonds have been found during the hist year in the 
region of the terminal moraine of Wisconsin. One of 6 carats, bow- 
ever, has been obtained at Milford, Ohio, aol far from Cincinnati, 

about the extreme southernmost point to which the i 'aine extends, 

and considerably east of any heretofore found. Prof. W. n. Hobbs, of 
the University of Wisconsin, who has taken bo much interest in the 
investigation of this matter, is proposing a systematic search along 
the line of the moraine in which a number of geologists will cooperate. 

lie believes that many more diamonds must have been found from 

time to time and be now lying unsuspected, as did some of the others 



558 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

for years, among local gatherings of odd pebbles, etc., in farm bouses 
neai the tnorainal line. He proposes to publish the general facts in 

the newspapers leavor to bring to lighl any such stones that exist, 

mill encourage searcli for others, lie liopes thus to gain additional 
datu for locating the source whence the diamonds came. This he is 
now disposed to believe i<> be the unexplored wilderness between 
I iabi ador n ml James l laj 

Thus far seventeen have been discovered, ranging from "I carats to 
li than j oaral in weight. Bui these musi be only a small fraction of 
those distributed through the great muss of moraiual material, and 

would Indicate considerable abundance at th< known source or 

: ources. 

in California Mr. II. W. Tumor, of the Uuited States Geological 
Survey, will make n study of the California diamond flelds and will 
prepare the results of his investigation in a future memoir, 

:.( mi in AFRICA.'' 

The great diamond production al Kimberley has gone on during the 

i.i i year al much the n rates of cost, profit, and yield as given in 

the reports for the two preceding years. The work is thoroughly 
understood and systematized, and the production is limited to an 
amount sufficient to maintain Hie supply and meet Hie demand without 
lowering prices. Indeed, in his address to the stockholders, Mr. Cecil 
Rhodes states that, in view of somewhui higher rates obtained from 
the diamond syndicate which purchases the entire product by contract 
from year to year, it is proposed to reduce the output to some exteut 
for the next twelvemonth, while maintaining equal dividends. The 
I >e Beers Company controls essenl tally the Bultfontein and Dutoitspan 
mines, but does tiol operate them, its workings being oouflued to the 
l »e Beers, Kimberley, and Premier mines. The lnsi named is less rich 
i ban i lie ol hers, bul has a large area and is very easily winked, so that 
:i much less eosi of production compensates for a smaller yield. The 
Premier has thus t n i- been worked only to a depth of 125 feet, but 

lower levels are now to lie opened. The I >e Beers Mine has been car- 
ried down to and beyond 1,400 feet, and the Kimberley to 1,900 feet: 
but (In* 1 main work of taking oul rook is done al higher levels — iu the 
Eimberlej between L,200 and 1,400 feet 

Diamond mining in South Africa proved even more successful in 
1808 thau in Hie previous year. With the regulated output sold ahead 
to dune, L900, and with the return of prosperity over nearly all of the 

oivilized globe, the demand for diamonds was greater than ever. 

The annual report of Mr. Gardner P. Williams, manager of the great 
De Beers mine, made to thai corporation, tells us that the cost of extrac- 
tion has beeu somewhat reduced, but thai the yield of diamonds per 

•■load" (16 cubic feet) Inis fallen from 0.92 to 0.80 carat. This is 



illopoi lioDoUoomO 'i 1. 1 -u. .1 m floi the ^i i ling J 10, I89S| London, 1808. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 



559 



explained in the reports by the statement that a good deal of "waste" 

and "reef" rock has been sent up, and that certain \ r portions have 

been worked. Mr. Williams claims that this is due partly to carelessness, 
and that otherwise the indications are generally as favorable as ever. 

The force of men employed has been largely increased. Native labor 
has been abundant and cheap, owing to the heavy losses of cattle by 
the rinderpest, whereby the natives have been forced to seek employ- 
ment at the mines. There wereover 1 l,(i()() negroes in the compounds at 
the time of the last report, and 1,819 whites engaged — an increase of 
nearly 200 whites and 4,000 blades since the previous year. 1 

The automatic sorter described in the last report' has proved SO suc- 
cessful that twelve of the machines have been constructed and are in 
operation; this has resulted in a large reduction in the force of hand 
sorters, both white and black. 

The cost of production has been lowered, in the De Beers and Kim- 
berley mines, about 9d. per load, involving a total saving of £130.000 
during the year. This is chiefly due to a very large output and to 
abundant cheap labor. The cost per load averaged at these two mines 
(is. 7. hi., and at the Premier 2s. 7. Id.; and the yield in diamonds was, 
respectively, 0.80 carat and 0.27 carat. 

The actual results for the year were: 

Operations at De Beers, Kimberley, and Premier mines, with output unit ruin, of diamonds 

produced. 





Loads of blue 
hoisted. 


Loads of blue 
washed. 


Calais ul' 

diamonds 
found. 


Prices n-alized 
i herefrom. 


De Beers and Kimberley. 


3, 332, 688 
1, 146, 984 


3, 259, 692 
691,722 


2,603,250 
189,356 


X ». </. 

3,451,214 15 3 

196,659 18 8 


Total 


4, 479, 672 


3,951,414 


L', 7!IL',lilH; 


3, 647, 874 13 11 





The amount of "blue ground" reported as "in sight" was estimated 
as 5,000,000 loads in the De Beers and 4,000,000 in the Kimberley; 
while in the Premier there were 2,750,000 loads above the 125-foot 
level, and 4,000,000 loads brought to view by further exploration to 
167 feet, in all 6,275,000 loads. The total in the three mines would 
thus be over 15,000,000 loads. 



1 nt i, 1 1 .1., in report tor 181)7: Nineteenth Aim Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, Part VI (oont'd), p. 499. 
•Ibid., p. 499, 



500 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

The financial statement of the company for the year ending June 
30, 1S9S, is as follows : 

Financial statement lie Ilrrrs consolidated mines. 

£ s. d. 

Amount realized from diamonds produced 3, 647, 874 13 11 

Expenses, including — £ s. tl. 

Amounts written ofi" machinery and plant 

account 76,260 11 8 

Redemption of debentures and obligations. . 132,000 

Interest on above 177,226 14 6 

1, 870, 079 1 3 

Profit 1,777,795 12 8 

Profit and loss account. 

£ s. d. 

Balance as above 1,777,795 12 8 

Investments and rents 22,242 7 3 

Interest on consols 31,036 (I 10 

From other sources 3,375 7 1 

£ s. a. 

Balance from previous year 683,047 17 11 

Less life governor's remuneration 158, 003 15 2 

525,044 2 9 

Total 2,359,493 10 7 

Of which — 

Dividends paid and provided for 1,579,582 

Reserve fund 31,423 4 

Balance to next year 748,488 6 7 

2, 359, 493 10 7 

The dividends have been maintained at the same rate — 40 per cent — 
and the balance is seen to be considerably larger than that from the 
previous year. The. reserve fund, invested in Euglish consols, has been 
increased from £1,148,133 12s. 7d. to a present amount of £1,179,550 
16s. 7d. 

Unofficially it is understood that the entire output has been arranged 
for with the syndicate until June 30, 1000. There has been an upward 
tendency in the diamond market for some months, and the year 1000 
will chronicle the greatest importation into the United States that has 
ever been known, and never have so many stones been cut. In fact, 
many sizes and kinds can be purchased in the United States, of Ameri- 
can cutting, at a lower rate than abroad. 

SOURCE OF THE DIAMOND. 

As regards the actual source of the African diamonds, the trend of 
recent opinion has been rather toward the view that they are not 
indigenous to the blue ground, but have been brought up from greater 
depths, although there has been a vast amount of discussion of the 
problem, as has been noticed in these reports for several years past. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 561 

Some new facts have lately come to view, reported by Prof. T. G. Bonney 
in a recent lecture before the Eoyal Society of Loudon, that would 
clearly iudicate a deep-seated source. In Griqualand West, about 40 
miles from Kimberley, are situated the Newlauds miues. Here, some 
two years ago, the manager, Mr. Trubenbach, picked up a specimen 
containing small diamonds apparently embedded in garnet. He at once 
began to collect and examine certain garnetiferous bowlders that 
occur in the blue ground, sometimes at depths of 200 or 300 feet. One 
or two of these bowlders were found to contain diamonds, visible either 
on the surface or on breaking. They consist of the somewhat rare rock 
eclogite, a mixture of red garnet and a light-green augitic or, perhaps, 
hornblendic mineral. They are waterworn bowlders, and evidently 
represent a mass of eclogite, from which they were detached at a remote 
period, and which must have then been exposed at the surface, though 
now deeply buried. This eclogite terrane, eroded certainly prior to 
the deposition of the (Triassic) Karoo shales and to all the. igneous 
outbreaks that have traversed them, would thus be indicated as the 
original home of the diamonds. It must have been largely decomposed, 
probably furnishing much of the included fragments of the "blue 
ground," and in that condition, together with the hard bowlders and 
the yet harder diamonds, have been largely carried upward in the 
igneous extrusions that have filled the "pipes" of the mines. 

ORIGIN OF THE DIAMOND. 

In a paper by Prof. T. G. Bonney, in the Edinburgh Review, a general 
outline was given of the diamond conditions in Africa and the theories 
regarding the deep-seated origiu of the gem, as connected with the 
experiments of Moissan, and the indications derived from meteorites, 
etc. Beginning with a brief account of the great Karoo formation, of 
Triassic age, covering an area of some 200,000 square miles in South 
Africa — east ami west from the Spitzkopf to the Red Heights near 
Middleburg, and uorth and south from the Black Mountains to the 
Vaal, and containing, like the Trias of our Atlantic States, interbedded 
sheets of igneous rock, with little indication of violent disturbance, and 
none whatever of volcauic outbreak — he passes to the subsequent 
formation of the diamontiferous "pipes" that break through the Karoo 
strata. These are regarded as due to explosive outbreaks from great 
depths caused, possibly, by access of water to highly heated regions, 
with outbursts of steam and heated mud carrying up quantities of 
fragments of the lower rocks and filling the "gigantic blow-holes" with 
a mixed volcauic breccia. The pipes were thus formed catastrophically 
and filled gradually by successive outpourings from below. 

Such is the supposed history of the "blue-ground," decomposed above, 
but becoming hard and compact below, and diamond bearing throughout. 
Stress is laid on the fact that each opening is somewhat different in the 
character aud aspect of its diamonds, so that experts can judge from 

20 GEOL, PT 6 CONT 36 



562 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

which mine any stone has come. The conditions of their formation are 
seen to be those necessary for the liquefaction of carbon, which usually 
vaporizes at extreme temperatures without fusing. After discussing 
the experiments and calculations of Dewar, as to the boiling point and 
critical pressure, the methods lately employed by Moissan aredescribed, 
which need not be reviewed again here 

The question of how far Moissun's artificial conditions of fused iron 
with dissolved carbon under enormous pressure may actually exist in 
the earth's lower crust is then treated. The Ovifak iron is regarded 
as a convincing argument in support of the view that such must be 
largely the case. The analogies of true meteorite's, and the occurrence 
of carbon in sonic of them, form a coincident line of evidence. But in 
particularly the ('anon Diablo irons, containing diamond carbon, are 
discussed in connection with the peculiar "walled crater" of Sunset 
Knoll. This latter is regarded as strikingly similar in structure to the 
Kimberley " pipes," though on a far larger scale, a "crater of elevation,"' 
by upthrust through the surrounding strata of a plain, and surrounded 
by these peculiar iron-carbon ejecta. These are considered, therefore, to 
be terrestrial and not meteoric, and to afford strong support to the 
theory of diamond origin thus presented. 

GENESIS OF THE DIAMOND. 

The question of the genesis of the diamond has been approached 
from a new quarter in the last year in an elaborate paper by Prof. O. A. 
Derby, 1 discussing the indications and conditions of diamond occur- 
rence in Brazil. The conclusions that have been reached on this 
subject as to the diamonds of South Africa, Professor Derby shows 
plainly, can not apply in South America; and, although the data are 
at present inconclusive for the formation of any definite theory, yet it 
is clear that the differences are so great t hat wo must recognize distinct 
modes of diamond production on the two continents. The African 
occurrence, in "necks'" or "pipes" of basic igneous outbreaks, decom- 
posed above, but passing into peridotite below, is abundantly clear, 
and the only controversy is that already referred to in these reports, 8 
whether the carbon is an original constituent of the igneous lock 
(authogenic), crystallized at great depths and pressures, after the man- 
ner of Moissan's recent experiments, or is (allothigenic) derived from 
carbonaceous strata broken through by the molten rock in its upward 
movement, as suggested by the included fragments of the Karoo shales. 

But nothing of this kind occurs in the Brazilian mines, and the slight 
approaches to similar conditions in the neighborhood of one or two of 
them would never have been thought of in connection with the dia- 
mond save for the endeavor to find some African resemblance in their 



1 Brazilian evidence on the ^mrsis of 1 1 1 . - diamond, by Orville A.. Derbj Jour. Geol. Fi 
pp. 121 166. 

•Eighteentb A.nn. Kept. TJ. S. Geol. Survey, Pari \ (cont'd), pp. 118 Inetoentli Ann. Rept, 

0". s Geol. Survey, Pari \ I (conl d), pp 8 10. 



PRECIOUS STONES. f><>.'5 

association. Leaving aside, of course, all beds that are plainly the 
result of recent surface drainage, Professor Derby goes into a very 
minute, study of the indications as to the diamonds in situ that appeal' 
at a few localities. These present three types. In one, at Agua Suja, 
near Bagagem, in western Minas Geraes, micaceous and staurolitic 
schists are cut by granite dikes and quartz veins, and overlain by sand 
stone beds with intercalated trap sheets, augitic in character and judged 
to be Triassic in age. In the neighborhood are other eruptive rocks, of 
a pyroxene-magnetite-perofskite type, but not peridotites, and not dis 
tinctly connected with the diamonds, the latter being found in abed 
overlying the rocks before described and containing fragments of all of 
them, greatly decomposed. After referring to the difference in the 
character of the eruptive rocks, Professor Deri ly adds the remark : " If, 
as some hold in regard to the Kimberley occurrence, the diamond is the 
product of metamorphic action on carbon-bearing rocks and not an ele- 
ment of the eruptive rock itself, this last difference would lose much of 
its importance. In this case the Kimberley and Agua Suja occurrences 
would fall into line as phases of the same phenomenon of contact 
inetamorphism." This is almost the only Brazilian occurrence that 
even suggests any likeness to the African. 

The other two types are in connection, the one with itacolumite, and 
the other with quartz veins in "residual" clays. The former associa- 
tion, long since noted and often described with more or less accuracy, 
is especially treated of in this article at Grao Mogol, 100 miles north of 
the celebrated diamond beds of Diamautina, in Minas Geraes. After 
considerable discussion Professor Derby finds the evidence inconclu- 
sive. The itacolumite, "whether one or two series are represented, is 
a metamorphosed clastic, and no decisive evidence can be presented to 
place the diamond in the class of either the authogenic or the allothi- 
genic elements of this rock." 

The third mode of occurrence is best shown and largely discussed at 
Sao Joao de Chapado. Here the rock is a body of clays of various 
types, all apparently due to the decomposition of a series of crystalline 
schists or phyllites, and of pegmatite veins that traversed them, of 
which only the quartzose portions have survived. Whether these peg- 
matites were originally segregation veins or intrusive dikes is not clear, 
though Professor Derby inclines to the latter view; and whether the 
diamonds in the clays originated in the pegmatite or in the schists it 
seems hardly possible to ascertain, even with minute examination. But 
the genera] fact remains that there is here no relation whatever to the 
African genesis, and that distinct modes of origin must be recognized 
for the diamond at different points. 

A further contribution to the African discussion as to diamond ori- 
gin has been made by Dr. I. Friedliinder, in the Geological Magazine. 1 
Moissan's method of crystallizing carbon in molten iron at enormous 

1 American Journal of Science, June, IH'.'S. 



564 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

pressure has been strongly presented by some as the probable source 
of the Kiinberley diamonds, at great depth. As all the iron in the 
diainantiferous rocks is in combination, and not in the metallic state, 
it becomes necessary to assume that the crystals must have risen by 
gravity, through the supposed mass of liquid iron, into the silicates 
floating upon the top of it, like the slag in an iron furnace. Fried- 
lander's experiments now indicate that the fused silicates would dis- 
solve the carbon crystals. He melted a small piece of olivine with a 
gas blowpipe, and, keeping it fused, stirred it with a small rod of 
graphite. On cooling, the olivine was found to be full of minute crys- 
tals, which on careful examination gave all the indications of diamond — 
octahedral or tetrahedral form, high refraction, hardness above corun- 
dum, insensibility to acids, burning away in oxygen, etc. From these 
facts he infers that the action of such molten silicates, in the course of 
their extrusion, on carbonaceous rocks would readily explain the African 
mode of occurrence without recourse to hypothetical masses of fused 
iron at great depths and pressures — a view already discussed in this 
report for 1896. ' 

AUSTRALIA. 

A number of diamond localities are now known in different parts of 
Australia, some of which are yielding good stones, though not in large 
quantities or of large size. In October of last year reports came 
from Perth, Western Australia, of much excitement over diamond dis- 
coveries at a place called Nullagine, in the northwestern part of that 
colony, and there was in consequence a great rush thither, but no 
details are given. Mr. John Plummer, of Sydney, New South Wales, 
has published a letter 3 in which he reviews the general subject at 
various Australian localities. The finest stones thus far found are 
those from the Cudgegoug River, 3 which flows from the Australian 
Alps through a gold-bearing district in the northwestern part of New 
South Wales; but they are not numerous, and the search for them has 
not been pursued, as the gold industry is found to be more certain and 
profitable. In the northern part of the same colony the Biugera and 
Inverell localities 4 are regularly worked. Most of the stones are small, 
many are of poor color, but some are fine and bring good prices in 
Europe. All are very hard, a feature which makes them expensive to 
cut, but which gives them extreme value for industrial uses, such as 
drills, etc. 

At Mittagong, some 75 miles south of Sydney, diamonds are found 
in drift. They are often straw-colored, and some are of beautiful deeper 
yellow shades. A few other localities are referred to where diamonds — 
occasionally valuable stones — have been obtained in connection with 

1 Eighteenth Ann. Kept. TJ. S. Geol. Survey, Part V (cont'd), pp. 13-18. 

■ Watchmaker, Jeweler, anil Silversmith, Vol. XXIV, 1898. 

* Eighteenth Ann. Eept. U. S. Geol. Survey, Part V, 181)0, p. 10. 

4 Eighteenth Ann. Eept. IT. S. Geol. Survey, Part V (cont'd), 1896, p. 10. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 



565 



gold washing. One thus found over ten years ago was cut into a 
4-carat brilliant that brought £10 and another £14 10s. They usually 
average about four stones to a carat, however, and the prices range 
from 4s. Od. to 8s. per carat. 

All the Australian occurrences are in drift or alluvial deposits, and 
the sources are yet unknown. One attempt was begun to seek for 
them in deep ground, but after cutting through an overlying basalt 
the enterprise was stopped by the death of its promoter and has not 
yet been resumed. 

CHINA. 

The occurrence of diamonds in Shan-tung province, China, has been 
occasionally noted, and United States Consul Fowler, of Chefoo, has 
made references to it, 1 and in April last wrote giving an account from 
a correspondent living near the locality where they have been found, 
which he describes as a low sandy ridge extending southward parallel 
to the main road passing through the market town of Li Chua Chuang. 
For some 8 miles along this ridge diamonds are found, not abundantly, 
because no search for them is made. The people say that this would be 
useless, believing the gems to be produced by the action of rain upon 
the soil — thus confounding washing out with production, as frequently 
seen in Europe and elsewhere — and being imbued with the idea that 
stone implements and the like, found on the surface after rains, have 
fallen from the clouds. The diamonds are picked up from time to time 
by workers in the fields, and are bought by agents or dealers who come 
from Pekiu. Most of them are small and off-color, although some good 
stones are found, even "as large as a hazelnut," and the poorer ones 
are valuable for drills. Prices are good, the usual rate for first-water 
stones at the spot being about 2,000 " large cash" ($240 Mexican) per one- 
hundredth of a native ounce, which latter equals 1J ounces avoirdupois. 
The correspondent states that of recent years the business has rather 
declined; but he thinks that the diamond field there is well worth 
intelligent exploitation, and that the whole neighborhood is rich in 
mineral resources awaiting development. 

RUSSIA. 

The occasional finding of diamonds on the western slopes of the 
Ural Mountains is quite well established. Early in the present cen- 
tury Humboldt suggested their possible occurrence there. In 1829 the 
first stone was found. More were found in 1830, and a few others 
at intervals until about 1871, but subsequently there has been little 
search, as the results do not pay expenses. These stones were found 
in the valley of the Poludenka, a small affluent of the Kama, about 1G0 
miles above Perm, the chief point being what is known as Adolph 
Gulch. Diamonds up to 3 carats have occasionally been found in the 

' Consular Keports, No. 198, March, 1897, p. 384. 



560 MlNKi; \i. i:i:soii;cES. 

Poludenka Vallej in placer workings for gold and platinum, ;is with 
us in California. The geology of A.dolph Gulch presents nothing 

peculiar. The valley is excavated in a fossiliferous li stone, and near 

the placer quartzite, occurs with argillaceous schists. The surface 
deposits show half a meter of soil, a like thickness of gravel, 1 or li 
meters of debris of quartz and limestone, and beneath this a. gravel 
stratum with fragments of all the neighboring rocks, and limonite, 
specular iron, magnetic sand, a little gold, and occasionally diamonds. 

In Russian Lapland also a few dial Is have been found along the 

Paatsjoki River. The lied rock is gneiss, cut by dikes of granite and 
pegmatite, and in the river gravel .occur rolled garnets, zircon, corun- 
dum, rutile, and tourmaline, with an occasional diamond, but none of 
a size to warrant search. The rock conditions and associations here 
bring to mind the account given by Professor Derby, in his article 
already referred to, of the third type of diamond occurrence in Brazil 
under the different conditions of a glaciated and nonglaciated country. 

Mr. R. Ilelinkacker has recent ly reviewed the Russian diamond occur- 
rences, 1 and the preceding notes are abridged from his paper. 

CARBON INDUSTRY OF BRAZIL. 

i nihil States Consul Kumiss, of Bahia, has recently given a consular 

report upon the carbon industry of Brazil, which is confined to the 

State of Bahia. The demand for carbonado, formerly small, has of late 
years become very great, with the growing importance of diamond 
drills, etc., in modern mining. The main region lies far in the interior 
of the Stale. After going by water from Bahia to Sao Felix, and 
thence by rail to Bandeira de Mello, where the production begins, the 
richer district lies farther up the Paragassa River, over a rough and 

hilly country accessible only by mule track. 

The carbons occur under three conditions, but always in the loose 

conglomerate known as cascalho. This is reported as found (1) over- 
lying a. clay and under the river silt, in the beds of t lie Paragassa and 
its affluent, the San Antonio: (2) above a 8imilar clay and beneath a 
layer of rock' (an igneous outflow •') on the slope of the adjacent Serra 
de Lavras Diamantinas; and (3) throughout the adjacent region gen- 
erally, overlain by surface deposits of earth, etc. It is not altogether 

Clear what relation these three occurrences of cascalho bear to 

anol her, as described in this account. Only I he first and second are 
worked to any extent. 

The working in the riverbeds is confined to the drg'season, about 
half the year, and consists of diving and filling bags with the cascalho. 

A spot, not over 20 feet deep is chosen, where the current is slow, and 

here a pole is planted. The divers slide down and climb up this pole. 

and while below thc\ scrape away the silt and till their bags, which 
1 Eng. «"<l Mm -I I 18,] S9S 



PRECIOUS STONES. 567 

are, on a signal, drawn up by other men in "dugout" canoes. The 

divers acquire much skill, remaining beneath the water for a full 
minute, or even more, and removing the cascalho down to the clay. 
The bags are emptied on shore, out of reach of the river, and the con 
tents left in heaps to be washed and picked over in the rainy season, 
when the rivers are too deep and too rapid for working. 

In the mountains the overlying rock is drilled through, and the cas- 
calho removed through tunnels and piled up, to be washed— by means 
of sluices built on the slopes — when the wet season conies. Mr. Fur- 
niss states that more carbons are produced here than from the river 
beds. Some little working has been done in the level country, but 
only along the streams, for away from the river there is a lack of water 
to wash the cascalho. The bed lies at about the water level and tills 
as scon as it is excavated. 

The carbonados vary from the size of a grain of sand to the cele- 
brated one found in 1894, which weighed 07.". (taints, and to that found 
in 1890, which weighed over 3,000 carats. Those from 1 to 3 carats 
are most valued, as large ones have to be broken, resulting in much 
loss. The one of 975 carats, mentioned above, brought $19,300 in Paris, 
but when broken into salable pieces did not by any means realize that 
amount. The present price is about $5 a grain, or $22.50 a carat, 
which high figure is owing to the large demand and small supply, the 
latter due to the crude modes of production. The material is shipped 
principally from Bah ia to Europe, but little as yet being brought to 
this country. 

DIAMOND CUTTING. 

The Thirteenth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor deals 
extensively with subjects relating to the comparison of hand and 
machine work in respect to cost of production, time saved, and the 
like. Among other data those concerning diamond cutting are given, 
and it is shown that machinery applied to this industry lias reduced 
the tim.', !)u, increased the cost. Three carats are cut bj machinework 
in thirty-nine hours, as compared with one hundred and thirty-two 
hours by hand, a gain in time of approximately 1 to 3.38, but the cosl 
is increased from $1 1.84 to $26.25, a ratio of about 1 to 1.76. In other 
words, rather more than half the gain in time is lost in expense. The 
great increase of diamond cutting in the United States in the last year 
is shown bj (he large importations of rough diamonds, and notwith- 
standing so low a duly as 10 per cent on the cut stones (the greatest 
preventive to smuggling) there are many sizes of diamonds which can 
lie cut, and sold for less in the United States than they cost when ini 
ported. The quality of much of the material is of a higher order: hence 
a higher grade of cutting is produced than in most of the stones of 
foreign importations. 



568 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

DIAMOND SAW. 

The diamond-toothed saw for cutting stone, referred to in former 
reports, is becoming' prominent in the preparations for the Paris Expo- 
sition of 1900. It has been perfected and introduced by M. Felix 
Fromholt, a French engineer. As thus far employed for hard stones 
it is of circular form, a steel disk of about 2 meters diameter, rotated 
by steam power, and having set in its edge, as teeth, 200 common dia- 
mond crystals, worth about $2.50 a carat. It is run at 300 turns a 
minute, at which rate it advances into hard stone about 1 foot in that 
time. For soft stones every fifth tooth is a diamond, the other teeth 
being of steel, and the rate of advance is much less; but at only twelve 
revolutions a minute this saw advances about 3 feet. These have been 
used in the shops at the Champs- Edysees for the past year with entire 
satisfaction, doing all sorts of stone cutting and dressing with sharp, 
clean outlines and at a cost of but one-eighth to one-tenth as compared 
with hand labor. An alternating saw of the same character, to cut 
blocks of stone several feet in height, is now to be set up. 

CORUNDUM. 

SAPPHIRES IN MONTANA. 

A report has lately been made upon the extensive sapphire and gold 
mining property on Yogo Creek, in Fergus and Meagher counties, 
Montana, which also comprises the locality of the sapphires of that 
district referred to in the report for 1890.' The report gives many partic- 
ulars as to the gold placers and the method of working them, and also 
treats of the sapphires, though more with reference to future than to pres- 
ent exploitation, and with few particulars as to color or quality. The 
sapphires occur in certain parts of the gold placers, and have been traced 
to their source in a "vein" (dike) traceable for some 3,000 feet within 
the property covered by the account. 2 Mr. Barnes, the engineer, states 
that two shafts have been sunk in this "vein," one of them over 00 feet 
deep, showing the size of the vein and the quality and amount of sap- 
phires contained in it to continue unchanged to that depth. The rock 
above is soft, but becomes harder in descending, so that it is difficult to 
mine and impossible to wash when brought up. Exposed to the air, how- 
ever, it disintegrates, and the stones are then easily washed out. As 
soon as the rather limited surface deposits are exhausted, therefore, he 
considers that mining by shafts, levels, and stopes will be permanently 
profitable. The season for outdoor operations is from five to seven 
months; but shaft mining can be carried on in the winter, the material 
being thrown out to freeze and thaw, pending a washing season in the 
spring and summer. An immense iron pipe system and special mining 
facilities have been introduced, and a greater yield is expected in 1899. 

1 Eighteenth Ann. Kept, U. S. Geol. Survey. Part V, p. 22. 2 Ibid., p. 22. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 



569 



The total amount reported, as taken out during the year 1898 is 
425,770 carats. Of these 2,099 were of extra tine quality — rated A 1 
in the statement — 25,040 were of first grade, and 101,109 were of second 
grade. The remainder, nearly 300,000 carats, were chiefly what are 
known as "culls" — small, flat, hexagonal crystals, used for watch 
jewels — with some of still inferior grade. Among the finer stones 
were some sapphires equal in color and brilliancy to any known; but 
unfortunately all were of small size, the largest averaging between 1 
and 2 carats each. The stones are all sent to the company's offices in 
London, and thence to the Continent for cutting. The stones are then 
sorted, and the bulk of the finer ones are reimported to the United 
States; the poorer stones could not be cut economically enough in this 
country. The yield of the year for the State of Montana is estimated 
to be fully ten times that of all the sapphires previously found there. 

ORIGIN OF CORUNDUM. 

A valuable paper has recently appeared on the manner of formation 
of the corundum deposits of North Carolina, by Mr. J. H. Pratt, of the 
geological survey of that State. 1 It is coming to be seen more and 
more clearly that the same material may be produced in different ways, 
and that determinations as to its origin in one locality may be entirely 
inapplicable to that in another locality. This fact has been already 
illustrated by the article of Professor Derby, previously referred to, on 
the origin of the diamonds of Brazil as compared with those of Africa. 
The occurrence of corundum in association with crystalline limestones, 
as in Burma and in Orange County, New York, is widely different from 
its relations in the southern Appalachians or in Montana. The article 
of Messrs. Brown and Judd, referred to in this report for 1890, 2 dis- 
cussed elaborately the mode of origin of the Burma rubies as a product 
of alteration. The Montana sapphires, on the other hand, are clearly 
seen to be crystallized out from dikes of igneous rock. 3 Mr. Pratt, in 
his recent article, goes into a very minute examination of the occur- 
rence and associations of the southern corundum in relation to the 
"dunite" rocks, which are regarded as clearly a form of peridotite in 
which the olivine is so abundant as to constitute the mass of the rock, 
though frequently altered to serpentine. These dunites, according to 
Mr. Pratt and to other recent observers, are clearly igneous outbreaks 
and intrusions through and into the gneisses of the region, and the 
corundum has crystallized out from them in the process of cooling. 
The experiments of Morozcevicz, 4 as to the solubility of aluminum in 
basic molten glass and its separation on cooling, form the basis of 

1 Od the origin of the corundum associated with the Peridotites of North Carolina, by J. H. Pratt: 
Am. Jour. Sci., Vol. VI, Part IV, p. 59. 

'Seventeenth Ann. Eept. U. S. Geol. Survey, Part III, pp. 905-906. 

'Sixteenth Ann. Eept. U. S. Geol. Survey, Part IV, p. 599 ; Eighteenth Ann. Eept. U. S. Geol. Survey, 
Part V, pp. 21-23. • 

•Eighteenth Ann. Eept. U. S. Geol. Survey. Part V, p. 23. 



570 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

Mr. Pratt's argument. He traces two types of corundum veins, those 
between gneisB and dunite, which he calls contact veins, and those 
entirely in dunite, termed dunite veins, each with various combinations 
and alteration products flanking them, viz, cblorites, veriniculites, etc., 
the relations of which are, discussed. The separation of the corundum 
from the fluid mass of intruded dunite would begin at the outer or 
first-cooled portions aud form a peripheral zone, while in some cases 
it would extend inward and downward into the. mass of dunite for a 
greater or less distance. Erosion of the upper portions of such a mass 
would remove the top or crest of the peripheral zone and leave the 
wall portions as contact veins and the penetrating portions as dunite 
veins, just as now found, with their original connection obliterated. 
The contact veins appear to strike downward indefinitely, while the 
dunite veins gradually narrow and "pinch out" — a condition well ex- 
plained by this theory. The view that the separation of the alumina 
would take place in a peripheral /one is supported by comparison with 
receni researches by Messrs. Yogt, and Adams on the separation of sul- 
phide ores from molten gabbros, in which this mode of differentiation 
is shown to have occurred in the process of cooling, anil it appears to 
correspond closely in many respects with the position and relations of 
these corundum deposits. 

PRODUCTION OF CORUNDUM. 
NORTH CAROLINA. 

Mr. T. K. Bruner, of Raleigh, North Carolina, says in regard to the 
corundum at Corundum Hill, Macon County, North Carolina, that he 
is informed that last year's production "amounted to several thousand 
dollars/' 

ALASKA. 

During the last year the writer has seen good gray and pink speci- 
mens of asteriated corundum from a locality on Copper River, in the 
Juneau Indian Reservation, Alaska. 

ONTARIO. 

The corundum found in Canada, in the counties of Hastings and 
Renfrew, Ontario, was briefly referred to in the last report. 1 Further 
investigation has been made under direction of the Dominion Govern- 
ment, and it seems as though the yield may prove highly important. 
A full account has been published by Mr. Archibald Blue, of Toronto, 
in the transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. 2 
In that paper, alter treating of the occurrence of corundum in other 
regions, especially in the United Slates and in farther India, a sketch 

' Nineteenth Ann. l.vpt.U.S.Geol. Survey, Part VI, pp. 11-12. 
a Bull:ili> meeting, October, 1898. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 571 

is given ol' the gradual recognition of its presence in Ontario. Occa- 
sional observations had been made for some fifty years, but only 
recently lias its abundance or its importance been recognized. The 
first notice of corundum crystals was by the late Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, 
who found them, with green diopside and other minerals, in a crystal- 
line limestone in Burgess Township, in 1847, while engaged in a geolog- 
ical reconnaissance with the late Dr. Wilson, of Perth. In 1876 Henry 
Robillard, a farmer in Raglan Township, Renfrew County, had his 
attention called to a rock full of curious crystals, " like cruet stoppers," 
which were pronounced by a local "expert" to be apatite, and for some 
years efforts were made to sell the property as an apatite mine, very 
naturally without success. 

Two years ago the mineral was identified by Professor Miller as 
corundum. In 18S7 some bowlders of the rare rock nephelinesyenite, 
containing corundum crystals, were found on the shore of Lake 
Ontario, near Cobourg, by Professor Coleman, of the School of Practi- 
cal Science at Toronto. These were recently identified with a rock 
found in place by .Mr. lilac, in Dungannon Township, where it forms a 
large outcrop. About the same time Mr. Armstrong, a farmer, discov- 
ered corundum in Oarlow Township, Hastings County, but did not 
know its character. Specimens lately came into possession of Mr. 
Ferrier, lithologist of the Geological Survey, who recognized them and 
at once began investigation. Guided by Mr. Armstrong, be found the 
locality in 1896, and its importance was then established. 

In 1853 the late Mr. Alexander Murray made a geological reconnois- 
sance of the country between the Ottawa and Georgian Pay, but the 
results were very general and of little practical consequence. Porty 
years later, in 189;), the Dominion geological survey delegated Dr. 
Frank 1>. Adams to make a geological reconnoissance of the same 
region, and he, with his assistants, has since that time been engaged 
upon the work. The area examined covers about 3,500 square miles, 
its four corners being in the townships of IMgby, Finlayson, Bagarty, 
and Grimsthorpe. The northern part of the area is Laurentian, while 
the southern and eastern portions are occupied by limestones and 
gneisses of the Grenville series. In the townships of Faraday and 
Dungannon a large development of nephelinesyenite was discovered 
and traced for 7 miles in an east and west course. 

During the last two seasons Prof. W. G. Miller, of the Kingston 
School of Mining, has been engaged, for the Ontario government, in a 
special investigation of the occurrences of corundum, from the first 
point of discovery in Carlow, above referred to. lie traced the corun- 
diferous belt eastward across t hat and the adjoining townships, Raglan 
and Lyndoch, to the shore of Clear Lake, near Sebastopol, in Renfrew 
County, a distance of 30 miles. Its width varies from a half mile to '■'> 
miles or more, and its area covers some 60,000 acres. During his 
second year Professor Miller was able to trace it in the other direction 



572 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

from Carlow as far as Glamorgan Township, in Haliburton County, thus 
making a total length of 75 miles, and finding a greater breadth in the 
region traversed before. Corundum occurs at many points in the 
western portion, and largely at Dungannon. The rock is chiefly 
nepheline-syenite, and it occupies nearly 300 square miles. Over most 
of this region the mineral rights are held by the Crown. 

Another belt of similar rock, with some corundum, has been located 
in Peterboro County, at Methuen, some -15 miles southwest from Car- 
low. This has been traced by Professor Miller for C miles, with a 
width of 2 miles, in a northeast and southwest course along the Blue 
Mountains, to the shore of Stony Lake. 

Mr. Blue then describes more particularly his own observations at 
several points along the greater belt, viz, the Block location in Brude- 
nell Township, the Eob'llard hill in Kaglan Township, the Armstrong 
location in Carlow Township, and the Dungannon occurrence near York 
Biver, the principal affluent of the Madawaska. At the first of these 
the crystals are thickly studded in syenite rock, with outcrops of nephe- 
line-syenitc close by. At the second the crystals are larger, running up 
from small sizes to five inches long and half that diameter. They are 
in syenite wherever it outcrops for a mile along the hillside. They 
are also in nepheline-syenite, though smaller, but finely shaped. The 
corundum forms at times one-third of the rock mass, and the quantity 
in sight is enormous. At the Armstrong place a fine exposure some 300 
feet long by 30 feet high is shown by the scaling off of the rock. Here 
the gneiss has been thrown into an arch by an upthrust of a mass 
of syenite, which in its turn has been cut by a dike of pegmatite. 
Corundum crystals abound in the exposed face of the syenite, and are 
also seen in the pegmatite where it joins the syenite. The rock from 
this point, taken without selection and tested at the Kingston School 
of Mining, yielded from 12.75 to 15.5 per cent of corundum. The Dun- 
gannon locality is a ridge of nepheline-syenite nearly 100 feet wide and 
half that height, thickly strewn with small crystals of corundum of pearly 
to blue tints, sometimes partly altered to a white mica (damourite?). 
A sample examined yielded 10 per cent of the mineral and was remark- 
ably free from iron. As the nepheline gangue itself has 30 per cent of 
alumina, Mr. Blue suggests that this rock may prove a valuable ore, 
especially on account of the absence of iron. 

The remainder of the article deals in part with the question of the 
manufacture of aluminum from corundum. In the ten years from 1SS7 
to 1897 the production of aluminum in the United States advanced 
from 19,000 pounds to 4,000,000 pounds, while the price fell from $3.42 
to 37J cents a pound. So great a progress in so short a time implies a 
very rapid future development in the use of this metal. The Canadian 
corundum appears to be remarkably well adapted as an ore, from the 
readiness with which it can be separated from the gangue and from 
the absence of adhering products of alteration. These points are also 
of importance in the preparation of abrasives. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 573 

Mill tests have also been conducted under Professor DeKalb, of the 
engineering department of the Kingston School of Mining, to ascertain 
the proportion of corundum in the dike rock, the best methods of 
separating it, etc., with results that appear very promising as to the 
commercial value of the deposits. The tests indicate that the cost of 
milling need not exceed 61a ton, and on a large scale might be con- 
siderably less, yielding 300 pounds of nearly pure corundum to a ton of 
rock, making an average of 15 per cent. Analyses made last winter 
at Kingston have produced corundum as line as 99.6. If it can be 
worked freely at such rates as these, the material may be of great 
importance, not only as an abrasive but as an ore, containing as it does 
5.3 per cent of aluminum, while bauxite and cryolite — the present main 
sources — have but 2G and 13 per cent, respectively. The district has 
abundant water power from the Madawaska River and its tributaries, 
which fact is of importance in the cost of milling and concentrating. 
It is suggested, as nepheline fuses at a low heat and as much as 25 
per cent of corundum has been found in the nepheline gaugue, that 
the corundum be separated by fusing the nepheline, which (hies not 
injure the corundum. 

No gem material has thus far been obtained; but there is hope that 
some may be found by further examination of localities 

RU15V. 

BURMA. 

The report of the Burma Ruby Mining Company for the year 1897 
was very discouraging. Neither the reduction of the capital nor the 
new arrangements with the Indian Government were able to prevent a 
deficit in the year's returns, which amounted to £8,102, and, even 
deducting the surplus left from capital reduction of £5,598, a net loss 
of £2,504 remains. The company's income from license fees of native 
miners was so reduced by the prostration and distress caused by plague 
and famine that it was less than half that of the previous year — £9,976 
in 1897 against £22,531 in 1896 — and barely one-third of that of the 
year before, when it was £28,277. This is the company whose stock 
was so tumultuously taken up at enormous premiums on its first 
organization a few years ago, but which has never yielded a dividend. 

SIAM. 

During the last year an important account has appeared concerning 
the ruby and sapphire workings in Siam, by Mr. H. Warington Smyth, 
F. G. S., formerly director of the department of mines in that country. 1 
Mr. Smyth visited and examined two or three localities more or less 
noted for these minerals. He found one to be a myth, with little or no 
foundation. To two — the celebrated Chantabun region, and another 

1 Five Tears in Siam (1891-1896), by H. Warington Smyth, F. G. S., etc.; 2 vuls. ; Lomlou, John 
Murray, 1898. 



574 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

some 600 miles to the north along- the Mekong (or Cambodia) River, 
where it forms the boundary between the French possessions of Upper 
Anam and the northern extremity of Siamese territory, close to the 
border of Burmah — he gave careful attention. This latter locality he 
found to be of no great importance for sapphires, although it has yielded 
some, and of no importance at all for rubies. Of the Chantabun region 
he gives quite a full account. Lying on the east side of the Gulf of 
Siam, between 12° and 13° north latitude, about IL'5 miles due southeast 
from Bangkok, it extends into the interior for a considerable distance 
eastward toward Battambang and the borders of (French) Cambodia. 
It is divided by the Patat range of hills, running nearly north and south 
and forming the divide between the streams that flow westward into 
Gulf of Siam and those that are affluents of the Lower Mekong (or 
Cambodia) River to the east. It has been generally stated, and was 
so mentioned in an account given in the Seventeenth Annual Report 
of the United States Geological Survey, Part III (continued), page 
007, that the rubies are found only on the western or gulf side of this 
dividing range and the sapphires on the eastern or inland side, but Mr. 
Smyth found this to be not altogether the case, as some line ruby mines 
are worked on the interior slope, at its southern portion, on the upper 
waters of the Battambang River, there called the Klong Yai. 

The gems are worked partly in the stream beds and partly in a defi- 
nite layer that underlies much of the district at varying depths. There 
seem, indeed, to be frequently two gem layers, the upper one near the sur- 
face, irregular and "patchy" in distribution, doubtless due to erosion, 
and the other lying deeper under several feet of clay (sometimes with 
bowlders), and being clearly a decomposition product of an underlying 
basalt. Mr. Smyth describes this rock as very hard when exposed, 
but when encountered beneath the ruby layer, while its aspect is pre- 
cisely the same, the hammer sinks into it like a paste, though every 
grain and crystal is apparently in situ. The ruby layer itself is a tena- 
cious clay with harder fragments not all worn. 

The basalt, sometimes hard and ringing and at other times in various 
degrees of decomposition, as described, is the general country rock. 
The hills and ridges show hard quartzite, which is perhaps an altered 
sandstone. No absolute recognition of the gem in the basalt rock has 
been noted, though hercynite and angite crystals are seen on weathered 
surfaces. In the ruby layer occur also poor sapphires, ordinary corun- 
dum, topaz, zircon, and ilmenite, and at some points magnetite and 
handsome garnets — occasionally sold by the natives to unskilled pur- 
chasers as rubies. Lower down in the valleys there is evidence of stream 
action in transporting and redistributing these hill-slope deposits, 
which are at first but little changed from the actual decomposed basalt. 
Mr. Smyth thinks that the streams at some places are even now rede- 
positing in their beds gems which have been washed out from the edges 
of the higher and older deposits, which he regards as antedating the 
present lines of drainage. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 575 

These are the conditions on the west of the l'atat hills in the ruby 
districts of Chantabun and Krat. On the east lies the Pailin district, 
chiefly, though, as above stated, not exclusively, yielding sapphires. 
Here the general facts are similar, though with many local variations 
which it is impossible to specify here. Again the two layers are noted, 
the one irregularly distributed near the surface, the other beneath 
Several feet of clay and itself consisting of clay, doubtless derived from 
decomposing basalt and containing magnetite crystals and what Mr. 
Smyth likens to concretionary nodules or decomposed pebbles — prob- 
ably the rounded forms so frequently assumed by the more resisting 
portions of decaying igneous rocks. 

The other district, far to the north and inland along the Upper 
Mekong, has yielded some sapphires, but no rubies of any account. 
The mode of occurrence is in general similar in stream beds and in a 
definite layer from 12 to 20 feet below the surface. Some Burmese 
Shans who had had experience in gem mining, recognized small rolled 
crystals of hercynite in the beds of streams flowing into the Mekong 
from the west. They had learned to associate these with rubies and 
sapphires, and they searched until they found the gem layer, which is 
rather gravelly and full of pebbles and fragments of basalt, which forms 
the coimtry rock here, as at Chantabun and Pailin, and decomposes to 
a claylike substance in the same way. It underlies the gem gravel 
and forms "a long flat-topped hill, in which all the gem-bearing streams 
have their rise," evidently a great outflow sheet. It is described as 
"a glassy basalt (porphyritic olivines and augites, in a base of lath- 
shaped feldspars, augite, magnetite, and glass)," 1 much like that of 
Chantabun. 

Mr. Smyth notes rather a curious difference between rubies and 
sapphires, in that the latter are often found as entire rolled crystals, 
their hexagonal form showing distinctly even when much worn by 
attrition, while rubies appear far more brittle and are usually found in 
fragments. "In Siam," he says, "the fault of the sapphire is generally 
in its coloring; of the ruby, in the number of its fractures." 

In both these gem districts the prospectors and workers are almost 
entirely the Shan people; — the natives of the region known as the Shan 
States, in the extreme northern part of Siam, and beyond on both 
sides of the upper Mekong, chiefly in Burma. These people are very 
sturdy, active, and independent, and possess remarkable ability in 
searching for gems — amounting to a kind of enthusiasm — and in judg- 
ing of their value when found. They are almost the only people who 
can live and work in the diggings in the pestilential climate of the 
Chantabun region, which is almost unendurable to Europeans and 
very wearing on even the native tribes. They are spirited and inde- 
pendent in a quiet, determined way, and will brook no harsh or unfair 
treatment or oppressive restrictions. Mr. Smyth describes the manner 

'Prof. Henry Louis, Mineralogical Magazine, Vol.X, N 



576 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

in which this quality was shown when the company that baa lately 
secured control of mucb of the Obautabun region undertook i<> impose 
some restrictions on tbe freedom of tbe Shan workers, such as their 
selling whatever they round to a company's agent at his own valuation, 
:ii tempt in 1 - i be right of search, and so fort h. The result was simply u 
departure of the men for other fields or for their Burman homes, 
Leaving the mines almost without workers. At, one, of the principal 
point i In- found only 200 diggers, instead of 2,800, and at another he 
I'ou i ii l only 54, instead of L, 300, the desertion being due to these causes. 
Yei the Shans are ready enough to respond to fair treatment, and Mi'. 
Smyi Ii emphasizes l he fact I hat i lie, success of European companies in 
Siam will depend largely on their recognition and consideration of the 
rights of these people, who alone can really operate the mines. 

i:mi;i: \ i.n \ \i> BER1 L. 

The emeralds of the ancient world nil appear to have come from the 
mines of Upper Egypt, They were, in use from very remote antiquity, 
mill were greatly prized down to the Inter Roman and Byzanl ine times. 

The locality was then, tor some reason, gradually aband d, and it. 

became so completely losl that (lie source of emeralds was lone; 
unknown. When tiny were found in the New World, derived from 
the mines near Bogota, in Colombia, it was imagined by many thai 
these gems had formerly reached Europe from Eastern Asia, by trade 

with A rica across the Pacific. The Ural emerald mines were not 

discovered until later, and have not been worked for years, so thai 
Colombia has Keen practically the only modern source of the gems, 
Some years ago Hie ancient Egyptian mines were rediscovered by M. 

Oaillaud, and the mystery of the, for r source was thus solved. If is 

now ;i meed !h:ii the khedival government, has granted aeon 

cession to an English syndicate, of which Mr. Streeter, the eminent 

jeweler and gem expert of London, is a, leading member, to reopen anil 
work these mines. They are situated in a depression in a, ranee ol 

bills or mountains of metamorphic rocks lying parallel to the Red Sea. 

There :ue two principal centers -that of .lebel Zubara. where M. 

< iaillnud made bis former discovery, and anol her some, io miles farther 
south, named Sikal or Sikali. The results of this enterprise will be 

awaited w ith interest. 

In L898 the Russian mines at Takowaja have been opened up and 

considerable work done w i I h some, even if not with flattering results. 

The n ! at I Utersulzbachtha I LI) the Tyrol have alSO been reopened 

and worked, but with little financial success up to dale. 

New Vtilford, Connecticut, is yielding .some line material. During 

the last, year, as stated by Mr. S. ( '. Wilson, there has been produced 

200 p ids of aquamarine, valued :it $400, and about 20 pounds of 

golden berj I, also won h s 100. 



IMtliCloUH STONES. 



>77 



in Noil ii < 'arolina the workings for beryl in Mitchell, Xancey, Mac 

and Iredell eoiuiiies, according to Mr. T. K. Bruner, of Raleigh, pro 
duced aboul $1,000 worth last year. 

in :i paper <>n Notes on Niiiiii Carolina Minerals, by J. H. Pratt, 1 the 
occurrence of emeralds in Mitchell County is described. This is the 
same occurrence previously noted in this reporl I'm' 1894. 

Mr. Pratl states that the vein carrying beryl is of a pegmatitic 
character, consisting ohietly of quartz and an albite feldspar, with 
tourmaline, garnet, and the beryl as accessory minerals, the country 
ruck being gneiss and biotite schist. The writer has seen many spec! 
mens from this locality, but only lew thai afford even small gems. 

TOURMALINE. 

The celebrated locality at Mount Mica, Oxford County, Maine, has 
been worked during the year past with fair success, and also that at 

llaihlam Neck, < 'onneel lent. 

The exploitation <>r the Mount Mica locality during recent years has 

been by no means for I he eominereial value only of I he ge alerial 

sought or found, but largely in the Interest «>i science a fact of almost, 
unique Interest in mining operations, in is'.is hundreds of tons of 

roOH were blasted from I lie eastern side of the ledge, but at. lirsf wit 1 1 

small result. By August and September, however, cavities were struck 

Containing fine crystals dark blue green, green, and red. Sonic ol 
these were magnificent as specimens, or 10 indies long and .'f inches 

in diameter, bul not of gem quality, the gem material coming chiefly 
from smaller crystals, in October deeper cavities were reached, with 

crystals of red and blue green that yielded some line gems. Many of 
these crystals were of extreme beauty, and Characteristic ill I heir color 
variations— pink at, the liase and grass green above, with a yellow 
green /one between; this latter has appeared in several cases fhis 
year, while a lew years ago blue central hands occurred. A cry l.il 
inches long and half an inch wide Was rich clear hi lie, with an inch 
of red at the base; another, hlne in its lower half, passing through 
white and pink to a grass green at I he nppei end. The I in Is and com 
binations vary great I.V m different cavities. Some colorless ones (achro 

iics) were, obtained, but most of the gem material was green. The total 

Value for I he year is esl iinalcd at over $2,000. 

A special exhibition of American colored I oiirmalines, holh cut and 
Uncut, from this locality and thai of I laddani, < oiiiiecl icnl, was made 

to the American Association lor the Advancement of Science dining 

its session at lloston in August, 1898. This was under I he direct ion ol 
Mr. Augustus ('. Hamlin, of Paris, Maine, and also in connection with 

the Garland Hamlin tourmaline collection belonging to Harvard Uni- 
versity, w it h other malei i.il displayed for the occasion. 

'.I., no, mi oi the ElUha Mltohell Bolontilk ■•'■• tot} . Vol. SIV, Purl II, April, 1608, pp, 01 I 
'JO OEOL, PT 6 <:<int .'57 



578 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

An important article on the chemical composition of tourmaline, by 
Prof. S. L. Peuticld and II. W. Foote, has lately appeared. 1 In this 
extended and exhaustive paper the authors begin by stating some of 
the difficulties that have stood in the way of the exact analysis of 
tourmaline and made its chemical formula a matter of some uncertainty 
hitherto. Passing over the earliest analyses, by Vauquelin and Klap- 
roth, before lithium was known, or boron recognized as a constituent, 
and beginning in 1818, with the discovery of the former and the finding 
of both as present in tourmalines, the first real series of analyses was 
published by Gmelin in 18l'7. 1 n 1845 another set of analyses was made 
by Hermann, in which he showed the iron to be ferrous. In 18."i0 Ilam- 
melsberg published thirty determinations, made with great care, but 
still defective in many particulars; these he reviewed and revised in 
1870, reaching conclusions much more satisfactory, and developing 
formulas for the principal varieties that probably are nearly correct. 

In 1888 Professor Riggs published twenty analyses of American 
tourmalines, executed with great care iu the laboratory of the United 
States Geological Survey, and developed a general graphic formula, 
which several German analysts discussed, partly sustaining and partly 
criticising the work of Riggs. In 1895 Prof. F. W. Clarke discussed 
t he whole subject further, and proposed four structural formulas. Com- 
paring the results of these and some other analysts, it appears that 
all tend toward a single type of acid from which, by various replace- 
ments, the several varieties of tourmaline are derivable. This acid is 
given slightly different formulas, but one or two appear several times, 
from Raiumelsberg down, -which arc — &>„B 2 Si 4 0»n and HjoBoSijO..,. 

The authors concluded that the present need was not so much for 
many new analyses as for a few made with extreme care on material of 
special purity. They first selected for this purpose perfectly colorless 
tourmaline (achroite) from Dekalb, New York, and transparent green 
crystals from Haddam Neck, Connecticut. The methods used 'and pre- 
cautions employed in the analyses are described in detail. The results 
proved so close to previous determinations that further analysis was 
deemed needless, and the work of studying the theoretical composition 
was taken up in the light of all the previous discussions. 

The work of the various authorities cited is then reviewed and com- 
pared. The general result arrived at is that "all tourmalines are 
derivatives of a com] ilex boro-silicic acid, 1 1 ..„ B Si ,().,," (see above), and 
that this formula is not likely to be altered by future analysis, although 
its structure may be more fully understood. Two of the hydrogens 
are not replaced in any of the variei ies, but always appear in hydroxy! ; 
whence it is judged that they belong with the boron, and the acid 
becomes Hi 8 (BOH) 2 Si,0, 9 . 

Of this, aluminum replaces one-half or more of the hydrogens; and 
the view is reached that "an aluminum boro silicic acid H A1 3 (BOH) 2 

1 Am. Jour. Sci., February, 1899, pp. 97-125. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 



579 



Si 4 19 is characteristic for all varieties of tourmaline." The structural 
formula for this body is then given, and the idea set forth that the "mass- 
effect" of tliis complex radical, with its valence of nine, controls or 
dominates all types of tourmaline, in their crystallographic, electrical, 
and optical properties, irrespective of the proportions in which the 
nine hydrogens are replaced by metals — aluminum, magnesium, iron, 
or alkalies. 

Then follows a comparison of analyses, and a discussion as to the 
replacements just alluded to, showing the relations of the well-known 
types of (1) lithia tourmalines, (2) iron tourmalines, (3) magnesia-iron 
tourmalines, and (i) magnesia tourmalines. In all these alumina is 
present also, in ratios diminishing, from group (1) to group (4), from 
6.7 to 1.0; and the alkaline metals diminish in nearly parallel ratios. 
The fusibility is highest in group (1), and falls with the increase of iron 
and magnesia. 

The geological occurrence of these groups is of interest. The lithia 
group (1), often delicately colored and at times clear and gem-like, is 
associated in pegmatite veins with soda and potash feldspars, lepido- 
lite, and muscovite; the second and third groups are the ordinary black 
or very dark tourmalines of granites, gneisses, and schists, and also 
occur somewhat in pegmatites, with the first group; while those of 
group (4) occur chiefly in crystalline maguesian limestones, associated 
with phlogopite mica, pyroxene, amphibole, scapolite, etc. These, and 
also the groups (2) and (3), are regarded as due to heated water vapors, 
containing fluorine compounds and boracic acid, given oil' during the 
slow cooling of intruded igneous masses; and cases are referred to in 
which such contact metamorphisnis have been noted. 

Further discussion is then given to the suggestion before alluded to, 
of the "mass-effect" of a highly complex radical in determining the 
physical characters of closely related varieties of minerals, as exem- 
plified not only in tourmalines but in other groups, even of species that 
are nearly allied, as in the garnet-sodalite group, which is cited as an 
illustration. Even more, such a controlling radical appears to influence 
the chemical characters also, in allowing metals to enter into partial 
isoniorphous replacements which they would not do in simpler salts. 
A very interesting field is thus opened for study. 

The paper is one of much importance, and gives a better under- 
standing of the tourmaline group than has ever before been reached. 

TURQUOISK. 

In last year's report mention was made of uew T turquoise localities in 
Nevada and southern California. Within the last year further discov- 
eries have been made in both States and in Arizona; and it appears 
that this mineral is widely distributed through the region where these 
States and Arizona adjoin or approach one another. The chief locali- 
ties announced are three — at a point in Nevada 18 miles east of the 



580 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

town of Vanderbilt, California; at Turquoise Mountain, Arizona; and 
throughout a considerable region south of Death Valley, in San Ber- 
nardino County, California, west of the Colorado River, but near the 
point of juuctiou of the States and Territory above named. 

The Nevada locality was discovered by Mr. George Simmons, a pros- 
pector familiar with the region. It lies about 5,000 feet above sea 
level, some 12 miles east of the California line. Mr. Simmons going 
out farther than usual ou the desert after a rain, found a mountain 
showing "float-rock" with blue-green stains, suggesting copper; but 
as he had seen the turquoise mines in New Mexico, he recognized these 
as probably the same thing, and ere long, by searching, found it in 
place. 

He sent specimens to friends in New Mexico, was assured of its gen- 
uineness, and at once located a claim and began work. He subse- 
quently took a quantity of turquoises to Denver and had them cut, and 
later engaged a skilled German lapidary to come to the mine with him 
and do the cutting on the spot. This arrangement has been carried 
out, and there was at last accounts a well titted-up establishment on 
the side of the mountain, some distance below the mine, where the gems 
procured were cut and polished for direct shipment and sale to jewelers. 
One stone, found in the first explorations, of a pale, robiu's-egg color, 
weighed G44 carats, and another 107 carats. 

The mine is high up ou the mountain side, and the gem-bearing rock 
is described very vaguely as "a trachyte, or white, soft conglomerate," 
traversed by blue-green veins and streaks, which here and there expand 
into "kernels" or nodules, the turquoise being covered with a white 
"talcose" coating. Comparing this with the accounts of other locali- 
ties in this report, it appears that they are generally similar, and the 
"chalky conglomerate" is doubtless a decomposed quartzite or quartz- 
ose pegmatite. Seams of hard, white quartz and oxide of iron stains, 
where pyrite crystals have decomposed and left casts, are associated 
with the richest parts of the gem rock, and are regarded as "signs." 

As elsewhere, ancient working is evident here, from old dumps, exca- 
vations, stone tools, and a "village site" on a flat ledge lower down the 
mountain, with mortars, pottery, etc., and rubbing and polishing stones 
of especial interest. Nothing of this last kind is reported from the great 
mining sites in southern California, nor are there any rock carvings 
reported here; whence it would seem that these localities had been 
worked by different people. 

A very interesting announcement comes from Prof. E. H. Barbour, of 
Lincoln, Nebraska, as to the occurrence of turquoise in the form of 
rounded pebbles in the drift in Brown County, Nebraska. They are 
said to be of tine quality, and several pieces have been cut as gems. 
This observation points to an entirely new and unsuspected locality for 
turquoise in the northern part of the country. Other minerals occur 
with it — barite, celestite, selenite, calcite, pyrite, etc. — which together 
may aid in the search for the actual source. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 



581 



Turquoise in Arizona lias been known for many years, but not worked 
to any important extent. The localities known as Turquoise Mountain, 
in Cocliise County, and Mineral Park, in Mohave County, have both 
been repeatedly noticed, the former as long ago as 1S58, by Prof. Wil- 
liam P. Blake, and the latter as yielding some good material in 1883. 
During the last year further discoveries have been made and claims 
located at the former locality, which is only some 20 miles from the 
town of Kingman, and is now but 2 miles from a branch railroad to 

Chloride. 

Turquoise Mountain is one of the peaks of the Cerbat Range, which 
runs a little west of north from Kingman toward the Colorado River. 
It presents no peculiar features, save much "float rock" showing traces 
of turquoise, remains of ancient dumps and workings, and terraced 
camping grounds where the aboriginal miners dwelt. On one of these 
terraces a cutting was made that opened an ancient "drift," about 5 
feet wide, which was uncovered for 8 feet. This old shaft contained 
many stone hammers and chisels, all worn by use, and had been tilled 
to within a foot or two of the top— evidently intentionally— with tur- 
quoise "float" and debris. The indications showed that the method of 
building fires against the rock had been pursued, as in the New Mexi- 
can turquoise mines, and then quenching them with water, and breaking 
up the masses thus loosened with the stone tools. Some of the latter 
were of great size and could have been used only by large and powerful 



men 



The new cutting was carried 25 feet directly into the mountain side, 
traversing many veins and seams of turquoise. Some of these were 
regular planes, others varied in thickness, developing into nodular 
masses. These nodules which yield the larger and thicker stones were 
found in a kaolin-like material and were buff or whitish externally, 
but blue within. 1 Toward the surface the turquoise was more or less 
broken up and decomposed, and the blue color altered to green; but 
both color and hardness improved on going deeper into the rock. The 
latter is described as a partly decomposed gold bearing quartz, occa- 
sionally becoming rose quartz; farther up the mountain are porphyry 
dikes. It is proposed to use the blue veined turquoise-bearing rock as 
a beautilul ornamental stone, and blocks of it have already been sent 
to New York to be worked into pedestals, mantels, etc. 

One mass of pure turquoise of unusual size, though not of gem qual- 
ity, weighing 9 ounces, was sent from this locality to Prof. William 
P. Blake, who said that it was the largest unmixed piece that he had 
ever seen, and regarded it as highly promising for deeper working. 

Mr. Frank Aley, of Globe, Arizona, also reports an ancient mine as 
discovered in that vicinity with hundreds of tons of rock excavated, 
and the stone tools of the old workers. No particulars are as yet given, 
however, as to its present or prospective value. 

1 Witb this account may be compared that of the ','isbapur occurrence as given in »his report for 
1896 : Eighteenth Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, Part V (cont'd), pp. 31, 32. 



582 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

During 1898 turquoise mining was carried on to some extent at Las 
Ciuccs, New Mexico, . r >,"> miles northeast of El Paso, by A. Do Meules. 
Unfortunate!} . operations were brought to a close by the assassination 
of the discoverer and owner of the mine. 

Reference was made in tins report for last year 1 to a, turquoise 
discovery at Manvel, California, near Death Valley, with traces of old 
workings, and also to specimens from another point in the same neigh- 
borhood being in the California State Museum. During the spring of 
L898 much more extended discoveries were announced in that region 
and important explorations made, with a good deal of excitement in 
some of llic San Francisco papers over both the gem prospects and the 
archaeological remains. This new turquoise district covers quite an 
extensive area in the northeastern part of San Bernardino County, 
near the point of junction of California with Arizona and Nevada. It 
is west of the Colorado River and some (10 miles northward from Man- 
vel, the nearest railroad station, by wagon and trail over a very rugged 
and desert country. 

(»n the reports of prospectors reaching San Francisco as to a great 
group of ancient turquoise mines with cave dwellings, stone imple- 
ments, and rocks inscribed with inscriptions, an exploring party was 
organized by the San Francisco Call, and Mr. Gustav Biseu, of the 

California Academy of Sciences, became attached to it as archaeological 

expert. 

The turquoise district, as described by Mr. Kisen and others of the 
party, occupies an area of 30 or 40 miles in extent, but the best mines are 
in a smaller section, about 15 miles long by 3 or I in width. The region 
is conspicuously volcanic in aspect, being largely covered with out Hows 
of trap or basaltic rock reaching out-ward from a central group of 
extinct craters. These Hows extend for many miles in all directions, 
and appear as long low ridges, separated by valleys and canyons of the 
wildest character. Among these basaltic rocks and in the valleys are 
found smaller areas of low. rounded hills of decomposed sandstones 
and porphyries, traversed at times by ledges of harder crystalline 
rocks, quartzites, and schists. In the canyons and on the sides of these 
hills are the old turquoise mines, appealing as saucer like pits, from 15 

to 30 feet across and of half thai depth, but generally much tilled up 
with debris. They are scat tered about everywhere. Around them the 
ground consists of disintegrated quartz rock, like sand or gravel, full 
(if fragments and little nodules of turquoise. Whenever the quartzite 
ledges outcrop distinctly they show the blue veins of turquoise, some 
times in narrow seams, sometimes on nodules or in pockets. The mode 
of occurrence appears closely to resemble that at Turquoise Mountain, 

Arizona, elsewhere described in this report. A few prospectors have 

dug into the old, half-filled depressions and found stones of good color 
and quality, ami ordinary ones may be picked up almost anywhere out 



1 Nineteenth inn. Hop., Part V] (oont'd), p. 504, 



PRECIOUS STONES. 583 

of the decomposed quartz. Stone tools are abundant iu the old work- 
ings, and the indications are plain that this locality was exploited on a 
great scale and probably for a long period, and must have been an 
important source of the turquoise used among the ancient Mexicans. 

From an archaeological point of view this locality possesses remark- 
able interest. The canyon walls are full of caverns, now filled up to a 
depth of several feet with apparently wind-blown sand and dust, but 
whose blackened roofs and rudely sculptured walls indicate that they 
were occupied for a long time by the people who worked the mines. 
In the blown sand were found stone implements and pottery fragments 
of rude type, incised but not painted. The openings to these caves 
are partially closed by roughly built walls composed of trap blocks 
piled upou one another with no attempt at fitting and no cement, but 
evidently made as a mere rude protectiou against weather and wild 
beasts. 

The tools, found partly in the caves and largely in the mine pits, are 
carefully wrought and polished from hard basalt or trap, chiefly ham- 
mers and adzes or axes, generally grooved for a handle and often of 
large size. Some are beautifully perfect, others much worn and bat- 
tered by use. 

The most impressive feature, however, is the abundance of rock 
carvings in the whole region. These are very varied, conspicuous, aud 
peculiar, while elsewhere they are very rare. Some are recognizable 
as "Aztec water signs," pointing the way to springs; but most of them 
are unlike any others known, and furnish a most interesting problem 
to American archaeologists. They are numbered by many thousands, 
carved in the hard basalt of the cliffs or, more frequently, on large 
blocks of the same rock that have fallen aud lie on the sides of the 
valleys. Some are combinations of lines, dots, and curves into various 
devices; others represent animals and men; a third and very peculiar 
type is that of the " shield figures," in which complex patterns of lines, 
circles, cross hatchings, etc., are inscribed within a shield like outline 
perhaps '.'> or 4 feet high. 

One curious legend still exists among the neighboring Indians that 
is in no way improbable or inconsistent with the facts. The story was 
told Mr. Eisen by "Indian Johnny," son of the Piute chief, Tecopah, 
who died recently at a great age, and who in turn has received it from 
his father. Thousands of years ago, says the tale, this region was the 
home of the Desert Mqjaves. Among them suddenly appeared, from 
the west or south, a strange tribe searching for precious stones among 
the rocks, who made friends with the Mqjaves, learned about these 
mines, and worked them and got great quantities of stones. These 
people were unlike any other Indians, with lighter complexions and hair, 
very peaceful aud industrious, and possessed of many curious arts. 
They made these rock carvings and taught the Mqjaves the same things. 
This alarmed and excited the IMutes, who distrusted such strange novel- 



584 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

ties and thought them some form of insanity or had medicine, and 
resolved on a War of extermination. This they undertook, and after a 
long and desperate contest most of the strangers and Mojaves were 
slain, since which time, perhaps one thousand years ago, the mines 
have been abandoned. Mr. Eisen connects this account with the exist- 
ence of a fail- and reddish-haired tribe, the Mayos (not Mayas), in parts 
of Sinaloa and Sonora, some of whom may have reached these mines 
and carried on a turquoise trade with Mexico. 

(JARNBT. 

Reference has been made by the writer in the report for 1893, and 
also in the last two reports, 1 to a very beautiful pale-red garnet, cutting 
into brilliant gems, found with the ruby corundum of Cowee V'alley 
Macon County, North Carolina. This garnet was supposed to be 
almandite, and was so reported; but it now appears that it may prove 
to lie more nearly related to pyrope, and it has lately been described 
under the proposed name of rhodolite, in two papers by Messrs. W. E. 
Hidden and J. H. Pratt. 2 

The paper describes its occurrence in the valleys of Masons Branch, 
a, small stream flowing from Lyle Knob, a spur of the Cowee Moun- 
tains. No crystals have yet been found, nor has it been traced to its 
matrix, all the material thus far obtained being in rolled fragments. 
The color is light, often very beautiful, of rose-red and pink tints, and 
it possesses, when cut, a brilliancy unusual among garnets, and com- 
pared by the author to the green dematoid garnet of the Ural. 

These marked peculiarities seemed to call for more detailed examina- 
tion as to its precise character, and careful analyses were made. It was 
found not to be almandite in any ordinary acceptation and approached 
more nearly to pyrope from its large content of magnesia, averaging 17 
per cent. The authors regard it as an intermediate type, and while not 
calling it a species, term it a new variety. The mean of two analyses, 
very close in themselves, gives true garnet ratios, which yet do not 
conform to either pyrope or almandite. The theory is presented that 
it is a mixed variety, consisting of two molecules of a magnesia-alumina 
garnet (pyrope) and one of an iron-alumina garnet (almandite). The 
results were recalculated on this hypothesis and found to accord quite 
closely with the theoretical composition of such a substance. The 
formula thus indicated is the following: 

2 Mg : ,AL. Fe 3 Al, (SiO.,)> 

It may be here noted that several analyses of pyrope, among those 
given in Dana's Mineralogy, approach quite closely to the composition 
of this new variety in their lower percentage of magnesia and higher 



'Eighteenth Ann. Kept U. s. Geol. Survey, Pari V. (cont'd), p. 19; Nineteenth Aim. Rept., Part 
VI. (cont'd), p. 18. 

'Rhodolite, a new variety of garnet; Am. Jour. Sci. ,4th series, Vol. V, 1898, pp. 293-290, and also in a 
paper »m the ^aaouiated Mineral)) of Rhodolite, Am. Jour. Sbi., Vol. VI, Deo., 1898, pp. 463-468. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 



585 



amount of iron than in normal pyrope, and that these arc the. gein 
varieties from New Mexico and South Africa. This fact strongly sug- 
gests that these "Cape rubies" and "Arizona rubies" may prove to be 
not true pyropes, but other occurrences of the newly recognized 
rhodolite. 

The mean of the two analyses gives the following result: 

Analysis of garnet from North Carolina. 



Constituent. 


Per cent. 


SiO. . 


41.59 

23.13 

1.90 

15. 55 

i7.i':i 
.92 


A 1 O j 


FeO, 


FoO 


MgO 


CaO 


Total 


100. 32 





On the theory of a mixture variety containing one molecule of 
almandine and two of pyrope, and recalculating the above result, with 
the ferric iron included with the alumina and the lime with the mag- 
nesia, the comparison appears as follows: 

Ttivontinil mid rnnttithiltd composition of North Carolina garnet. 



Const ttuent. 



SiO... 

A1;0, 

FeO. 
MgO 



I I,, orel 

n:il. 



Per cent. 

It. is 
23.5(1 
16.59 
18.43 



Ret alen 
lated. 



/ '. i cent 
II. 76 
24. 41 
15.62 
18.21 



It will be seen by examining the analyses in Dana's Mineralogy, page 
441, how markedly these results differ from normal pyrope and how 
near they are to analyses Nos. 7, 11, 12, and 13, as there included. 

TOPAZ. 

A paper has been published 1 within the last year by Mr. Arthur S. 
Eakle on topaz crystals in the collections of the National Museum. 
The discussion is entirely crystallographies, but contains much that is 
of interest to scientific mineralogists. After describing the forms and 
noting the faees on the topazes from foreign localities — Alahashka, the 
llmen Mountains, Nertchinsk, Saxony (Schueckenstein), Australia, 



'Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. XXI, pp. 361-:j69. 



586 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

Japan (three localities), Brazil, and Mexico (San Luis Potoai, Zacate- 
cas, Durango), lie gives those from tour North American localities — 
Tikes Peak and Nathrop, Colorado, tbe Thomas Range. Utah, and 
Stoneham, Maine. The first and last of these resemble those of the 
Ilmen Mountains, and the Nathrop and Utah crystals those of Mexico. 

OLIVINE. 

So much interest attaches to the remarkable occurrence of olivine in 
bowlders near Thet lord, Vermont, that the following statement regard- 
ing the discovery and identification of it has been obtained from Prof. 
Oliver P. Hubbard, late of Dartmouth College, ■who first brought it 
into notice. He says: 

In 1852, while driving by the farm mow owned by Mr. P. W. Mont, in Thetford, 
Vermont, I came to a considerable rock (600 to son pounds) in the middle of the 
roadway, with a carriage track on each side, (a condition of one hundred years?), 
[ts various colors suggested a conglomerate, but removing with my sledge a scale 
as large as my hand, it proved trappean with nodules of olivine. 

I \ isited the place some years later; the rock was gon< — to be a header to a bar- 
post — and the road track was straight. 1 bought the rock and sent it. by railroad 
to Dartmouth College, at Hanover. New Hampshire. At this timo I discovered 
neai' by, ill the meadow, a do/en .similar pieces, from 800 to 2,000 pounds in weight, 
more or les.s buried. These were subsequently numbered wjth paint and cata- 
logued, i in splitting mine, the brilliant surfaces were round filled with nodules of 
olivine, of all sizes up to 4 inches in diameter. Specimens were senl to various 
cabinets. The olivine was analyzed in the Sheffield Scientific School, at New 

Haven. 1 

One mass of L,800 pounds is now in Columbia University, New York 
City; one of 1,200 or 1,100 pounds is at the United States Military 
Academy, at West Point; another is in the American Museum of Nat- 
ural History, New York City. This last presents amass of olivine 7 
by 4 inches, pale yellow green, but only transparent in part. Smaller 
ones of 600 pounds and less are in the University of Chicago and in 
the New York State Museum at Albany, New York. In August, L896, 
Mr. C. II. Richards discovered in Corinth, \ ermont, 20 miles north of 
the locality, a dike in mica, slate of similar composition, from (i to 10 
feet wide, and traced it for half a mile; this is the probable source of 
the bowlders, lie obtained here crystals of olivine measuring 2.03 by 
1.82 inches. 2 

ZIRCON. 

Mr. T. K. Brunei-, of Raleigh, North Carolina, mentions that zir- 
cons, large and richly colored in honey-red and brown shades, have 
been found in Iredell County, North Carolina, some of the crystals 
weighing as much as 2 ounces. 

1 Sri. Dunn's Mineralogy, •!( b edit p. 185. 

"Nature, October 25, 1897, p. 6;i2. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 587 

QUARTZ. 

ROCK CRYSTAL. 
CALIFORNIA. 

Mention was made in this Report for 1S97, p. 13, of a discovery of 
remarkably large quartz crystals in California, promising to yield 
material suitable for crystal balls and other handsome objects. Further 
accounts have been received during the last year and some of the 
crystals cut into fine spheres. The locality is at Mokelumne Hill, Cala- 
veras County, and the specimens are found in the compacted Idling of 
one of the old river channels that are so marked a feature of Californian 
geology. Mr. John E. Burton, who is engaged in taking out the crys- 
tals, describes them as lying irregularly in every sort of position in the 
old tilling. Some are close to the rim rock or ancient river bed, 
embedded in coarse colored graved and "cement," stained and discolored 
externally, but in sonic, cases dear and brilliant within. Over the "rim 
rock" is a cream-colored clay and then a coarse, wet sand, much com- 
pacted, in which are found clean, handsome looking crystals, though 
all are muddy and require thorough washing. Two little "stopes" or 
partly timbered drifts have been run into this deposit for several yards, 
and the sides, faces, and roofs are seen to be full of crystals. A large 
number have been taken out and much more is m sight. One crystal 
measures 1!) by 15 by 11 inches, another 14 by 14 by !> inches, etc. 

A number of these specimens have been sent to New York, and 
special machinery for cutting them into balls has been put up. One 
ball has been finished. It is of (lawless perfection and has a diameter 
of '<.[ inches, and is one of the finest in the country; it is valued at 
$3,000. Other beautiful spheres have been cut from specimens from 
the same California locality. Two balls of 7i inches in diameter were 
cut also, but these were not flawless. 

This is an interesting and promising addition to American minerals 
available in the ornamental arts, as hitherto only occasional pieces of 
rock crystal possessing sufficient size and transparency to serve for 
any such purpose have been found in the United States. Japan, Brazil, 
Madagascar, and the Alps have heretofore been almost the only sources. 

It will be an interesting geological problem to ascertain the place of 
origin of these grand crystals now strewn in the old channels. As 
they are not much rolled, and lie so thickly in a limited space, it seems 
that they can not be far removed from their point of occurrence, and 
the suggestion arises that some cavern or open vein lined with the 
crystals has been cut through by the ancient stream, and perhaps 
entirely obliterated, near the spot where they are now found. 



588 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

PHANTOM QUARTZ. 

Some very fine specimens of quartz crystals showing successive 
stages of growth — often called " phantom crystals" — have been obtained 
recently from Placerville, California. A large number of these have 
been sent to dealers and collectors, and others are found from time to 
time, though only a few out of many that occur are choice enough to 
be valuable. They are found embedded in clay, having apparently 
fallen from the walls of a mine or cavity in which they occur, the pre- 
cise location of which has not been stated. The crystals vary from an 
inch to a foot in length and from 1 to 20 pounds in weight. Some are 
brilliant, clear rock crystal; others smoky; others dull and opaque, or 
coated with a thin layer of white silica ou some of the sides. All show 
"phantoms" more or less numerous and marked. 

Some extensive work was done in mining for amethyst in the quartz 
vein at Denmark, Maine, and some beautiful specimens were obtained, 
many of gem value. Among them was a faultless polished brilliant 
crystal of the most intense purple, 5 inches high, 3 inches wide, 4 
inches thick and equal to any crystal ever found at any known locality. 

OTHER VARIETIES. 

At New Milford, Connecticut, according to Mr. S. C. Wilson, smoky 
quartz to the amount of 200 pounds, and worth $104, has been obtained 
during the year. 

Mr. T. K. Bruner, of Baleigh, North Carolina, states that large 
amethysts of good color are still found in Lincoln County, together 
with smoky and lighter colored varieties. It is not possible, however, 
to give the value of the annual product. 

In a list of local minerals furnished by the Peabody Academy of 
Science, at Salem, Massachusetts, the following are noted among the 
more interesting quartz varieties: Citrine and cairngorm stone, in the 
Rockport Company's granite quarry at Rockport, Massachusetts; 
smoky quartz ami morion, in the Pomroy quarry at Gloucester; horn- 
blende in quartz, on Salem Neck, and actinolite in quartz (Thetis's 
hair stone), at Bass Point, Nahant. 

Very fine Thetis's hair stone is reported by Mr. R. G. Coates, of Los 
Angeles, California, as occurring in that vicinity. 

Asteriated quart/, is found occasionally in North Carolina, according 
to Mr. T. K. Bruner, of Raleigh, but no particulars are given as to 
locality. 

Mr. M. Bravermau, of Visalia, California, reports concerning the 
year's output of gold quartz in that State that the value of the 
material suitable for cutting was about $100, found mostly at White 
River, in Tulare County. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 



589 



In a paper on " Petroleum inclusions in quartz crystals," ' Mr. Charles 
L. Reese describes specimens from Diamond post-office, near Gunters- 
ville, Marshall County, Alabama, not far from the Tennessee line. 
These are clear crystals of quartz, well formed, with triangular cavi- 
ties parallel to the faces, wherein occurs a brown liquid around the 
walls and a circular space within, which move on turning the specimen 
about. In one crystal— the largest, about an inch by half an inch— 
the liquid at first formed a globule in the cavity, but on experimenting 
with heat this globule burst violently and its contents gathered about 
the walls. The liquid shows the fluorescent green of petroleum, and 
some small crystals from the same place, when crushed in Alter paper, 
gave greasy spots thereon, which smelt and burnt like petroleum. 
This substance also occurs in the neighborhood of the locality. 

CHRYSOPRASE. 

Mr. M. Braverman, of Visalia, California, reports that a new location 
has been found about 1 mile east of Lindsay and 18 miles south of 
Visalia; 500 pounds have been taken out so far, but only a small quan- 
tity of gem material was found. Work is still going on at the claim. 

Prof. X. H. Winchell, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, slates that jasper 
(bloodstone) is common in (lie taeonyte horizon of the Animikie, asso- 
ciated with "banded jaspers" in large pieces, many of which are beau- 
tiful when polished. 

Mr. A. Bibbins, of Baltimore, Maryland, who has made much miner- 
alogical exploration in that vicinity, reports the occurrence of carnelian, 
sard, and chalcedony at ''Mine Old Field," in Harford County; of jas- 
per at Soldiers' Delight, Baltimore County, and of silicified wood as 
common in the Potomac group of Maryland. 

OI'AI, MSTRALLW). 

A paper read by Mr. P. <1. de Gipps, before the Australian Institute 
of Mining Engineers, gives numerous details as to the mode of occur- 
rence of the Australian opal in the, White Cliff district, near Wilcan- 
nia, New South Wale^. described in this report for 1800. 2 The point 
there referred to. as to the relations of this field to that of Queensland, 
is here stated to be that the Wilcannia region lies '-near the southern 
edge of the Cretaceous basin of the interior of Queensland, New South 
Wales, and South Australia." The opal district, as far as explored, is 
about 15 miles long and from half a mile to 2 miles wide. The rocks 
are Cretaceous, of varied character, and Mr.de Gipps gives curious par- 
ticulars as to the, bands or "layers" of opal-bearing rock, referred to 
in the account above cited. He finds evidence that the opal must have 
been deposited duriug a long period of time, and in a peculiar way. 

iJour.Am Chemical Soc. for October, 1898, Vol XX No.10. 
•Eighteenth Aim. Rept. 0. 8. GeoL Survey, Part V (cont'd), pp. 30, 31. 



590 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

A good deal occurs in sandstone bowlders in the Cretaceous, which 
are worn, rounded, and often contain Devonian fossils, and have in 
some cases, after the introduction of opal, been broken and recemented 
with opal again. Another mode of occurrence is that iii "nigger- 
heads'' rounded silicious masses, varying from 1 to 100 pounds in 
weight, impregnated with opal. These appear to be concretionary, 
judging from Mr. de Gipps's acccount that they generally contain a cen- 
tral portion of opalized wood, with septaria-like cracks filled with opal. 
The bandstones, or opaliferous layers, are harder than the adjacent 
strata, and contain shells and beleuinites more or less altered to opal, 
and cracks filled with it. He also refers to it as occurring in clay, 
kaolin, silicious beds, and in connection with gypsum (as mentioned at 
Milparinka, in the account before cited).' He describes it asjjeculiarly 
clear when in gypsum layers, especially when the latter is in crystals. 
Curious masses of mixed carbonate and sulphate of lead, in flattish 
concretions, occur throughout the same beds, but do not seem to have 
any connection with the opal. 

Mi-, de Gipps holds that all the facts indicate that the opal was 
deposited in a very fluid, gelatinous condition — e. g., the presence of 
included fragments and particles of clay, ironstone, wood, etc., in the 
clear opal ; also a very general stratification of it. the varying bands of 
color being horizontal, parallel to flat seams and transverse to vertical 
ones, entirely unlike the usual character of banded veins of infiltration. 
"This," ho says, "proves that the veins and cavities have not been 
subject to gradual deposition from silicious matter in a circulation of 
water, but filled by a gelatinous solution of silica, more or less pure, 
which had time to settle into zones, or horizontal bands." All of it, 
moreover, is cracked and fissured, as though from contraction, and 
often refilled as by subsequent deposit. 

He gives further particulars as to grades and values. But little over 
5 per cent of the opal found is "precious," or suitable for jewelry ; for 
good material the prices vary widely, up to 8120 an ounce, or rarely 
$125. Color and "pattern" are the chief conditions of price, those 
stones that show red fire being most esteemed, either alone or mingled 
with yellow, green, or bine. "Pattern" denotes the difference in size 
of color, "pin fire" being where the colors are in minute points or 
specks, "harlequin" where they are mingled in small patches or 
squares, and "flash fire" where there are broad gleams of color across 
the stone. These three grades shade into one another more or less: 
the second is the rarest, and when fine and uniform, the most valued. 

During 18ilS great quantities of gem material were found, a single 
find, it is said, having yielded £12,000 to £15,000. 

' Eighteenth Aim. Eept. U. S. Geo]. Survey, Tart V (cont'd.), p. 31. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 



591 



PROSOPITE. 

Two or three years ago attention was called to a beautiful light-green 
mineral from Utah, which was thought to be probably the same as 
utahlite, the massive or nodular variscite described by the present 
writer under the former name in this report for 1894, p. 602. The exact 
locality of this mineral has lately been ascertained and its character has 
been determined to be quite different. It was procured in 1895 by Mr. 
T H. Beck, of Provo, Utah, in the Dugway mining district in Tooele 
County, in a low range of hills in a dry desert region, associated 
with fluorite, native silver, and decomposed auriferous pynte. The 
rock is said to be trachytic, and "slate" is also reported. The mineral 
proves to be the rare species prosopite, a hydrous fluoride of aluminum 
ami calcium, colored green by some copper compound, and mingled 
with quartz and perhaps fluorite. It is described by Mr. TV. H. Hide- 
brand in the American Journal of Science for January, 1S99, pp. 53, o4. 
The analyses were at first somewhat perplexing, but after eliminating 
probable small admixtures, and assuming some little fluorite as con- 
tained, a result was reached that comes very close to the two previous 
determinations of prosopite from Saxony and Colorado, as follows: 

Analysis of prosopite from several localities. 



t niL-tituent. 



Al . 
Ca . 
F .. 
H,0 
O .. 



Altenberg. Pikes Peak. 



Per -' nt . 


]'.:: . , lit. 


Per cent. 


23.37 


22. 02 


22. 74 


16. 19 


17.28 


16.85 


35. 01 


33.18 


29.95 


12.41 


13.46 


16. 12 


12. 58 


13.41 


14.34 


99.56 


99.35 


100.00 



The view is taken by Mr. Hillebrand that the water is probably pres- 
ent as hydroxyl, and the analyses favor the idea of Penfield that 
hydroxyl in such eases replaces part of the fluorine. 

Whether this rare mineral occurs here in quantity sufficient to be of 
use in the ornamental arts is not ascertained, but it is an interesting 
and beautiful addition to North American mineralogy. 

T1IOMSOXITE. 

In regard to this mineral, which has to some extent been used as a 
semiprecious gem stone, and sold to tourists in the Lake Superior 
region, Prof. N. H. Winchell, of Minneapolis, says: « That reported for 
several years from Minnesota (near Grand Marais) is, mesolite, though 
thoiusonitc also occurs. Lintonite is worthy of being classed with the 



592 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

gems. It is allied to the jacksouite of Whitney." He adds that none 
of these minerals has as yet any commercial value, except the rneso- 
lite, which, under the na'nie of thomsonite, is sold to some extent as a 
gem 

From this account, these closely similar minerals would belong 
strictly as follows: Thomsonite, so called, under mesolite; lintonite 
under thomsonite proper, and jacksonite under prehnite. All are 
related in composition and occurrence, being hydrous alumiuo-silicates, 
but differ in details of chemical and physical structure. They, as well 
as chlorastrolite and zouochlorite, are all found filling amygdules in the 
trap rocks of the Lake Superior region, and are weathered out there- 
from and rolled on the beaches. Although resembling pebbles, they 
are not properly such, as only their surface polish and not their rounded 
form is due to the action of the waves. 

CHLORASTROLITE. 

During 1898 search was continued for chlorastrolite at Kock Harbor, 
Isle Itoyale, Lake Superior, with excellent result. Many thousand 
stones were found, some of them measuring an inch or more in length, 
and the value of the output was several thousand dollars. 

Professor Winchell, in an article on chlorastrolite and zonochlorite, 1 
discusses these two minerals at some length and comes to the conclu- 
sion that the former is probably a genuine species and the latter an 
impure or altered material. Chlorastrolite was first discovered by Dr. 
C. T. Jackson and analyzed by J. D. Whitney, in 1847; in 1875 it was 
again analyzed by Hawes, who concluded that it was not a homogeneous 
mineral, and referred it to an impure variety of prehnite. Lecroix, in 
1S88, referred it on optical grounds to thomsonite. Dana, in his last 
edition (1892), placed it among doubtful species in his "Appendix to 
zeolites." 

It occurs on the beaches of the south shore of Isle Eoyale, as rolled, 
pebble like amygdules, and also in the trap rock. Its green color and 
stellate radiated structure (whence the name), with its capacity of bril- 
liant polish, have made it a favorite "local" gem stone. It has a higher 
index of refraction than thomsonite, and a distinct pleochroism (light 
green and colorless), and the fine, compact fibers vary in brightness in 
convergent light, as they expose to observation the acute or the obtuse 
angle. The mineral has a strong individuality, alike in structure, color, 
and constancy of optical orientation. Professor Winchell, therefore, 
thinks that the impurities noted by Hawes and Lecroix were acci- 
dental, and that when analyses are made with care to exclude foreign 
material "its chemical characteristics will be found as distinct as its 
physical." In this view he is sustained by the fact that in sections 
made of specimens of it for the Minnesota Survey the mineral is found 
to be quite pure, with only a few little spherules of delessite. He 



' Am. Geologist, Vol. XXIII, No. 2, February. 1899. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 



593 



believes, therefore, that small foreign inclusions of quartz, delessite, 
prehnite, or oxide of iron are amply sufficient to account for its sup- 
posed want of homogeneity of composition in former analyses. 
Whitney's analysis is as follows: 

Analyses of chloraalrolile from Lake Superior. 



Constituent. 


Per cent. 


SiO -■ 


36.99 

25. 49 

6. 48 

19.90 

3.70 

.40 

7.22 

100. is 
5. 5 
3. 155 


Aid; 


Fe .Or, 


CaO 


NaO 


K ,0 


J 1 ,0 


Total 


H 


G 





Some of the nodules lack the characteristic stellate structure and 
present a dull green aspect, sometimes dark, sometimes verging toward 
a light green like that of lintonite, or into a white structureless sub- 
stance of less hardness, or a pinkish zeolitic mineral, like mesolite. 
These are not true chlorastrolites, and Professor Winchell thinks, after 
examining a large number of such forms, that "the green structureless 
substance is a transition stage between chlorastrolite and mesolite, the 
iron element prevailing on one side and not on the, other." He is dis- 
posed to identify this mineral with the zonochlorite of Foote (187.3), 
though stating that he has not been able to examine the original 
material so named. Ilawes reported it to be not a homogeneous sub- 
stance (1875), but to contain green particles disseminated in a white 
mineral. It is but fair to the late Professor Toote, however, to recall 
that his zonochlorite was not "structureless," but was named from the 
fact that it presented concentric layers or zones of lighter and darker 
shades of green. 

Professor Winchell develops an interesting point, however, in his 
view that this undefined greenish mineral of these Isle Royale amyg- 
dules grades into mesolite on one side and into chlorastrolite on the 
other, "the extremes only being identifiable," and that "these two 
minerals arc closely allied in origin, structure, and composition, differ- 
ing principally in the content of iron." They sometimes occur in the 
same amygdule, either clearly defined or passing into each other with 
more or less of the green amorphous material between. 

The question as to the exact nature of zonochlorite probably remains 
to be decided by further analyses and by the examination of thin sec- 
tions. It is evidently a closely related substance, but presents a char- 

20 GEOL, PT t> CONT 38 



594 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

acteristic structure different from chlorastrolite, and comes from a dis- 
tinct locality, Xipigon Bay, on the north shore of Lake Superior. 

A company has been formed, under a New Jersey charter, to work 
the t ungsten ores of the Hubbard mines, at Trumbull, Fairfield County, 
Connecticut. It may be that interesting gem minerals will be found 
there, as the Trumbull locality has long been famous not only for the 
tungsten minerals, wolfram, and scheelite, but for topaz, and also for 
fluorspar and its variety, chlorophane. 

Transparent and nearly colorless fluorspar in pieces of 2 inches 
square and over, if procurable in any quantity, would be valuable in 
the manufacture of some forms of optical goods. A demand exists for 
it that can not at present be readily met. 

MOLDAVITE. 

The question as to the origin of moldavite, whether the nodules in 
which it occurs are, as has been usually supposed, rounded and water- 
worn pieces from an ancient glass factory, or have a meteoric charac- 
ter, as lately urged by Dr. Suess, has attracted further discussion, 
which is not likely to cease until the interesting problem is delinitely 
settled. Herr J. Bares has argued against the glass theory, and Pro- 
fessor Rzekak in favor of it, on various grounds, the former inclining 
to the view of Suess. In December last a paper was read before the 
Bohmische Kaiser Franz-Josephs Akademie, of Prague, by J. X. Wol- 
drich, with photographs of numerous specimens, to illustrate the 
surface markings. He traces a likeness between these moldavite 
nodules, or pebbles (?), and certain obsidian bombs from Australia, 
some of the Bohemian specimens showing indications of a hollow-bomb 
structure, as well as peculiar " finger like " and radially furrowed 
external markings. Their occurrence, too, in sandy deposits both in 
northern and southern Bohemia, which are referred to late Tertiary or 
early Quaternary time, is a very peculiar feature. Herr Woldrich is 
led to favor the theory of their extra-terrestrial origin. 

The writer has no question as to the possible worn-glass theory of 
moldavite, having studied many thousand pieces, and the prevalence 
of the round and elongated bubbles, so characteristic of glass, the 
so-called finger pittings being nothing but large bubble cavities that 
have been broken into by attrition. 

AITV ERGXE MIlS^EItAIiS. 

In this Beport for 1S9G 1 a sketch was given of the amethyst workings 
in the Auvergne district of central France, recently undertaken aud 
carried on by M. Demarty. There has appeared within the last year a 
valuable pamphlet treating of the rocks, minerals, and precious stones of 
this celebrated region, prepared by M. Demarty for the use of tourists 

1 Eighteenth Ann. Eept. U. S. Geol. Survey, Part V (cont'd), pp. 28, 29. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 595 

and scientific visitors. 1 The numerous precious and semiprecious 
stones of Auvergne are described as to their mode of occurrence, their 
degree of value and abundance, and their principal localities. The 
rocks are then treated of briefly, and a section is added on the frauds 
and imitations of gems and the manner of distinguishing them. The 
amethysts and their exploitation and working are described quite fully, 
much as summed up in this report above cited, and the other gem stones 
also there mentioned, although there is hardly any systematic working 
for any but the amethyst, unless on a small scale here and there. Some 
rare varieties of the quartz and chalcedony groups are noted, as a clear 
blue quartz, termed "saphir de France," occurring in small pebbles in 
certain stream beds, and fairly comparable in color with sapphire itself; 
also a red quartz, called " hyacinth e de compostelle," or Bohemian ruby, 
in small bipyramidal crystals in a trachyte of the Puy de la Tache. 
Agate is abundant and varied, and is treated artificially to enhance its 
colors, as in Germany. Eesinite opal occurs at various points, employed 
in ornamental work, inlaying, etc. " It presents," says M. Deinarty, 
"every color; brilliant white and dull white, pale brown, variegated 
watery green, black, yellow, chocolate, etc. At Saiute Nectaire la 
Haute, it is colored orange-yellow by arsenical sulphide— orpiment." 
The opal has been deposited from thermal waters, even quite recently, 
and at times has covered vegetable growths, such as branches of rose 
bushes, pieces of wood, etc. 

Noble opal of great beauty, but in amounts too small for working, 
occurs at some points, and hyalite quite frequently. Opalized wood is 
rather abundant at several localities that are named, and is employed 
for cane heads, knife handles, and like objects. 

Zircon appears in some of the stream gravels and in place in some of 
the feldspathic granites, and also in trachyte at Capuciu, Mont Dore". 
It is sometimes of fine red color, and capable of use in jewelry. 

Among inclusions aventurine quartz occurs occasionally in Auvergne 
and at other French localities, and some fine aventurine amethyst at 
Escout. M. Deinarty gives a rather full account, also, of the manufac- 
ture of the artificial aventurine, with the formulas given by various 
experimenters. At St. Julien de Goppel occur remarkably fine den- 
dritic inclusions in agates, giving beautiful examples of moss agates, 
"agates herborisees, arborisees," etc. Compact fibrolite is abundant 
and of much interest from its extensive use for implements by prehis- 
toric man. It occurs at many points in place, and in streams as rolled 
pebbles which are not easily distinguished from quartz. M. Verniere, 
of Brioude, who is mentioned as possessing a remarkable collection of 
fibrolite specimens, gives as a distinction the fact that quartz pebbles 
become more translucent in water, while fibrolites, on the other hand, 
become more milky and opaque. 

■Les pieires d'Auvergne employees dans la jouillerie, la table tt eric, et les arta decora tife; par J. 
Demarty, Membre de la Societe franchise de Miueralogie, Paris, Paul Klincksieck, 52 Kue des ficoles, 
1898, 8vo., pp. 64. 



596 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

Chrysolite (peridot) is found in well-defined crystals at a few places, 
in volcanic tuffs, etc., and in the granular massive condition abundantly 
in t lie basaltic locks throughout the Ceutral Plateau. 

Serpentine is widely present, especially in the Haute Loire. Obsid- 
ian, peiiite, and retinite — volcanic glasses — are described and distin- 
guished, as also iolite (cordierite), which abounds in the granites and 
gneisses, sometimes fine enough to be cut for gems (saphir d'eau). 

Beryls are noted, and at two or three localities emeralds of some 
size, but not clear. These localities are Clianteloube, near Limoges, 
and Biauchaud, in Puy de Dome. 

Of the garnets only abnandite and melanite appear in Auvergne, 
the former frequently, the latter rarely. The ahnandites arc sometimes 
of gem quality. Many localities are given, the occurrences being gen- 
erally in gneiss, mica schist, granulitc, or pegmatite, but in some cases 
apparently in trachytes and tuffs. 

Tourmaline is frequent, but usually black. Green and red crystals, 
however, of 1.5 cm. in length, are found near St. Ilpize, in Haute Loire, 
and at one or two other localities. 

Topaz occurs in some of the stream gravels, but rarely of a size or 
quality to render it of value. 

Turquoise is mentioned (callaite) as found at one locality, not strictly 
in Auvergne, but near it, at Montebras, < reuse, where it is associated 
with amblygonite and montebrasite, which are worked for lithia. As 
no allusion is made to the working of the turquoise, it is presumably 
not of gem quality or in auy valuable amount. 

Corundum is not rare, in Auvergne, and various forms of occurrence 
are noted — in the nepheline-dolerites of St. Saudous, in the fibrolite 
in the vicinity of Brioude, in garnetiferous pegmatite near Fix, and 
in several stream beds as rolled crystals. The finest are found thus, 
together with olivine, augite, etc., and pebbles of the blue quartz, 
"saphir de France." Some of the corundum s are tine blue and deep 
velvety red. and the red zircons and blue quartz are somewhat con- 
founded with them. 

Marbles, alabaster, and fluorspar are dealt with, the latter being a 
very frequent metalliferous vein material, and at some poiuts named 
furnishing fine crystallized specimens. 

RUSSIA. 

The writer lately published an account of some of the principal local- 
ities of gems and precious stones in the region of the eastern Ural 
Mountains. 1 The paper describes the modes of access to the mining 
regions of the Ural, and gives the results of personal examination of 
many of the most interesting points, with historical matter, and 

'A tiij' to Russia ami the I'ral Mountains; a lecture delivered by George 1*'. Kim/ In-fore the 
Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, April 20, 1S9S. From the Journal of the Franklin Institute, Sep- 
tember, 1898, 37 pp., 8». 



PRECIOUS STONES. 597 

general observations on the people, the trade, and various physical 
peculiarities of the district. The visit was made several years ago, 
and the account is supplemented by interesting additions from the 
papers prepared by leading Russian geologists and mineralogists for 
the Ural excursion of the International Geological Congress in 1897. 
The gold and platinum workings are treated of at some length, espe- 
cially the latter, with reference to the derivation of the metal from 
serpentine — itself an altered peridotite. The great iron works of Zla- 
toust and Kasli, their remarkable products, and the distribution thereof 
far into the interior of Asia, are described, as are also the copper mines 
of the Demidoff estate at Nijni Tagilsk, and the malachite there 
obtained that is so famous in Russian art. The gems proper are next 
dealt with; the phenacites and alexandrites; the emerald mines of 
Takowaja, abandoned years ago on account of the prohibitive rates 
charged by the Government for the right of working them: the splen- 
did beryls and topazes of Alabashka; the rubellites of Sarapulka; and 
the ''royal" amethysts found at several points in the government of 
Perm, in which all these and many other gem localities are comprised. 
The green demantoid garnets, or "Uralian emeralds" of jewelry, from 
Poldnewaja, in the Oreuberg government, are described, also the rare 
gem euclase. The paper then takes up the ornamental or semiprecious 
stones — the malachite, lapis lazuli, labradorite, rhodonite, and the 
wonderfully beautiful varieties of jasper. These and the great estab- 
lishmeuts in Russia for cutting them and making elegant objects of 
art, from the most delicate to the most massive, are treated of some- 
what fully. An account of the management of these imperial cutting 
works at St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg in the Urals, and Kolivan in 
the Altai, together with their characteristic and remarkable products, 
occupies the remainder of the article, with the addition of some curious 
notes upou archaeological researches in portions of the Ural district. 

CARBORUNDUM AXD THE CARBIDES. 

The industrial importance of carborundum as an abrasive, next only 
to diamond, and the great interest of the discoveries and experiments 
of M. Moissan and others in the production of a numerous body of 
similar carbides, new to science, by means of the electric furnace, have 
led to a considerable literature on this subject, which has during the 
last year been collated and indexed by Mr. J. A. Mathews in a pamph- 
let published by the Smithsonian Institution. 1 

Over thirty carbides are noted in this paper, with their mode of 
preparation, leading properties, and bibliography. Reference will be 
made here only to a few that, owing to great hardness, present fea- 
tures of possible importance in ways similar to carborundum, though 
as yet no others appear to have been so utilized. A compound of 

1 Review and bibliography of the metallic carbides, by J. A. Mathews, Smithsonian Miscell. Collec- 
tions, No. 1090, Washington, 1898, p. 32. 



f)!tX MINERAL RESOURCES. 

aluminum, boron, and carbon, expressed by Al :) C..rs.,n, is referred to 
as possessing extreme hardness, between corundum and diamond, but 
the notice is brief and the substance is little known. The reference 

goes back to Eampe, in the American Chemist for 1870. Moissan has 
found a boron carbide (BuC) in bright black crystals, harder than car- 
borundum, with which faces may be cut upon diamond. Another 
boron carbide (BO, or B 2 2 ) is not so hard, and fuses at a high heat. 
The chromium, uranium, vanadium, and zirconium carbides are all 
harder than quart/, and several others are spoken of as "very hard," 
but without specifications. 

It is announced that the Carborundum Company, of Niagara falls, 
New York, proposes to introduce its material in a new form — that of 
a carborundum paper and cloth — and to bring it forward in competition 
with the emery, sand, and garnet papers now so largely used. The 
carborundum, in line grades, will be attached to cloth or paper, and 
from its greal hardness would, no doubt, in this application find exten- 
sive and important use in many arts and industries. A new building 
for the manufacture of this preparation on a large scale is to lie added 
to tin' company's works. 

LMBEROID. 

The utilization of small pieces anil fragments of amber by compress 
ing them with the aid of heat, and perhaps some partial solvent, into 
masses hardly distinguishable from natural amber, has been known 
and practiced for years past in North Germany, and, while effecting a 
large Saving of material, has impaired the standing of real amber. 
Mr. E. 1„ (lay lord, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, claims to have invented 
a process of this kind superior to that of the Baltic manufacturers, 
and to be able to produce amber articles of any shape or size, perfect 
in aspect, highly polished, and transparent. Mr. (iaylord claims that 
his process utilizes not only the small pieces, as abroad, but the chips 
and fragments not heretofore saved. The method is said to lend itself 
especially to the making of articles inlaid with gold or silver, and to 
have many fine possibilities, but the details are not given, and its actual 
importance remains to be ascertained. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 
PRODUCTION. 



599 



In the following table is given a statement of tho production of 
precious stones in the United States in 1896, 1897, and L898: 

Production ofpreciout stones in the United Status in 1896, 1897, and 1898. 



Diamond — 

Sapphire 

Rubj 

Topaz 

Beryl (aquamarine, eto.) 

Emerald 

Phenacite 

Tourmaline 

Peridot 

Quart/., crystal 

Smoky quartz 

Rose quartz 

Amethyst 

Prase 

Gold quartz 

Rutilated quartz 

Dumortierite in quartz 

Lgate. 

Moss agate 

oprase 

Silioified wood (siliuirled and opali ed 
Opal 

. almandite) 

Garnel (pyrope) 

Topazolite 

Amazon si one 

Oligoclaae 

Moons lone 

Tun ionise 

Utaklite (compact variscite) 

Chlorastrolite 

Tbomsonite 

Prehnite 

Diopside 

Epidote 

Pyrite 

Rutile «. 

Anthracite 

Catlinite (ptpestone) 

Fossil coral 

Arrow points 



Total 



None. 

$10,000 

1,000 

200 

Too 

None. 

None. 

3,000 

7,000 

2 51 
500 
500 
100 

10,0110 

500 
50 

1,000 

i 000 
600 

1,000 
200 
500 

2,000 
100 

1,000 
500 
250 
40, 000 
500 
500 
500 
100 
200 
250 

1,000 



2, ooo 

1,000 

i 000 



1897. 



None. 
$25,000 

N ■- 

N ■ 

1,500 

25 

None. 

9 125 

500 

I, I 

None. 

200 

e 

5, 000 

Voir 
Von- 

1,000 

1,000 
None. 

1 i 

200 

7 000 

2, 000 

None. 

500 

25 

None. 

100 
500 
500 
100 
100 
None. 

1,000 

800 

1,000 

500 



None. 

100 

2, M0 

50 

None, 

-I 000 

500 
17, 000 

1,000 
100 
250 

5. 000 

100 

None. 

1,000 

1.000 
100 

2,00(1 
200 

2.000 

N 



10 

None. 

50, 000 

100 

I, 

100 

Nolo' 

None. 

l,i 

110 
1,000 

500 
1,00 






130, 675 



ISO B20 



(100 



MINERAL RESOURCES. 



IMPORTS. 

The following table, shows the value of the diamonds and other 
precious stones imported into the United States from 1867 to 1S9S: 



Value of diamonds and other precious stones imported and entered for consumption in 
the United States, 186? to 1898, inclusive. 



Year ending- 



Juno 30, 1867. 



1869.. 
1870.. 
1871.. 
1872. . 
1873.. 
1874.. 
1875.. 
1876. 
1877.. 
1878 
1879.. 
1880.. 
1881.. 
1882 . 
1883.. 
1884.. 
1885.. 
Dec. 31, 1886.. 
1887.. 
1888.. 
1889.. 
1890 . 
1891.. 



Diamonds. 



Glaziers'. Dust. «£&« s ,„. 



484 
445 

9,372 
976 

2, 386 



'J_' 20S 
11,526 
8.949 

I 

3 

8.150 
147,227 

1SB2 532 246 



1 393 

1894. 

1895. 

1890. 

1897 

1898. 



78,090 
629,576 

8,058 



$140 
71 
17 
89, 707 
40, 424 
68, 621 
32, 518 
20, 678 
45, 264 

36, 409 
18.889 
60 
51,409 

82, 628 

37, 121 
30, 426 
32,316 

29, 127 
68, 746 

144,487 
71 255 
53,691 

167, ! [8 
24D.66:. 



$176,426 
114.629 
211,920 

78 033 
63,270 
101,156 
129,207 

449,513 

371. 679 

244, 876 
196,294 






3 ii 
6 622 



I diamonds 

and other 

stones not 

Bet. 



8, 

5, 

7, 

10, 

10, 

11, 

.'12 

M2 

n 

/9, 



/4, 

$2,7811,024 1, 
026 1, 



317, 
060 
997 
768, 
349 
H39, 
917, 
158, 
234. 
41111, 
110, 
970, 
841 
iiim, 
320, 
377, 
598, 
712, 
628 
915, 

223, 
704, 
(29, 

065, 

291. 
330, 
474 



Set in 
gold hi 

ot her 
metal. 



$291 
I 165 

23 

1,504 

256 

2,4(1(1 
326 
114 



45 

1, 734 

1,025 

538 

765 

1,307 

3,205 

1/2,801 



Total. 



$1,318,617 
1 062, 193 
1.997,8110 
1.779,271 
2,350,731 
3, 033, 648 
3, 134, 1102 

2, 371. 536 

3, 47s 757 
2. 616, 643 

2, 235, 246 
3,071, 17:: 

3, 964. 020 
6, 870. 244 
8. 606, 627 
8, 922. 771 
8, 126, 8s 1 
1), 139,460 
6, 042, 547 
8,259.747 

10, 831, 880 
LO 507 658 
11,978 004 
i : 105 091 
12 7m. 588 
14,521,851 
In, 197 505 
7 127 214 

I i, . 99] 
6, 276, 729 

10,162,941 



idi n : also en it set, and jewels to be used in the manufacture of watches, from 1891 

16 miners' diamonds are also included. 
ii :n- also on hits' and engravers', not Bet. 

■ i in, ml 3 ,111,1 other stones from 1891 to 
i/ \in specified prior Lo 1897. 

-in ones -■ i and iioi specially proi ided for since 1890. 

/Including rough or uncut diamonds. 
: 183. 



THE PRODUCTION OF PRECIOUS STONES IN THE 
UNITED STATES IN 1899 



BY 

GEORGE F. Kl'XZ 



CONTENTS 



Page. 

Introduction 5 

Diamond 5 

United States .' 5 

Australia 9 

Brazil 11 

Price of the diamond 16 

Source and origin of the diamond 17 

Corundum gems 18 

North Carolina 18 

( alifornia 22 

Canada 2.3 

India r 27 

Abrasive efficiency of corundum 33 

Sapphires in Montana _ _ 34 

Emerald 35 

North Carolina 36 

Beryl and aquamarine _ . 36 

Tourmaline '.',' 

R< ick crystal 39 

Amethyst 39 

Opal (precious) 39 

Semiopal 40 

< h ilden opal 40 

Chalcedony 40 

Agate 40 

Silicified wood 41 

Jasper (bloodstone, heliotrope) 41 

Turquoise . . 41 

Garnet 42 

Rhodonite . 42 

Chrysocolla 42 

Catlinite 42 

Amber . . . . . 42 

Precious stones of Japan 42 

Chalcedony and agate 43 

( 'i rrundum 44 

Opal , 44 

( 'hrysoberyl 44 

Topaz 44 

Tourmaline 45 

Garnet 45 

Beryl 40 

Production 47 

Imports 48 

3 



PRECIOUS STOXES. 



Bv George F. Kinz. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Among the principal items of interest relating to the production of 
gems in 1899 may be mentioned a general development of, and increased 
output from, the Yogo Valley sapphire mines in Fergus County, Mon- 
tana, and the finding of a fine blue stone that afforded gems up to -i 
carats in weight; also the discovery of remarkably brilliant sapphires — 
green, blue, pink, yellow, and brown — in many shades and tints, in 
Granite County, Montana; the continued output of turquoise from the 
mines in Grant County, New Mexico; the reopening of the turquoise 
property near Santa Fe, New Mexico; the development of the tur- 
quoise localities in Nevada and California; a great advance in the price 
of emeralds and pearls; a decided increase in the price of all quali- 
ties of cut diamonds; a great increase in the amount of diamond cut- 
ting, especially of the finer qualities, in the United States, although 
this industry was materially affected because of the advance in prices 
during the latter part of the year; and, lastly, in general, a continued 
search for minor gems in North Carolina, Maine< Connecticut, and 
other States. 

DIAMOND. 

UNITED STATES. 

Much interest has been manifested in an important paper by Prof. 
W. H. Hobbs, entitled "The diamond field of the Great Lakes, 1 " which 
has appeared in the Popular Science Monthly. The whole history of 
the remarkable discovery of diamonds at various points along the line 
of the terminal moraine of the later ice sheet is here summarized and 
discussed. These successive discoveries have been noted in the Min- 
eral Resources reports, as they have been announced from year to 
year since 1890; and the entire ground has been covered by the obser- 
vations and studies of Professor Hobbs and the writer. The article 
referred to describes the seventeen diamonds from the morainal belt in 

'Jour, of Geol., Vol. VII, No. 4. May-June, 1899. 



6 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

Wisconsin, Michigan, and, lately, Ohio, in addition to which are 
descriptions of several very minute stones from the Plum ('reck. Wis- 
consin, locality. The Ohio discovery, briefly mentioned in this report 
for last year, is a pure and brilliant stone of six carats, found in L897 
a( Milford, Clermont County, by two little daughters' <>t' Mr. J. It. 
Taylor. It is now the property of Mr. Herman Keck, of Cincinnati, 
and has been cut into a handsome gem. The others arc nearly all 
pi eserved as found. 

Several of these diamonds remained for years in the possession of 
farmers, who had accidentally come, upon them and who kept them as 
curiosities, having no idea of their nature or value. Professor Hobbs 
believes that probably a number of others are still lying unsuspected 
among the little collections of pebbles and local "'curios" which accu- 
mulate on the clock shelves <>f country farmhouses; and he is trying, 
by means of notices sent to tin' people throughout the regions of the 
morainal belt, to brine- (o light any that may still be unrecognized and 
to arouse interest and stimulate search for other diamonds. 

The physical characters of the stones are discussed in detail. In 

size thej vary from the microscopic diamonds of Plum Creek to the 
21-caral stone found at Kohlsville, Wisconsin. The average weight is 

li carats; but Professor I lobbs observes that 1 his can not betaken as a 

true average, "since only the larger stones are likely to be discovered 
until a systematic search is undertaken." At Plum Creek, where the 
diamonds were found in panning a stream gravel, all were small (none 
over 2 carats), most of them very minute. 

The crystalline forms are of interest, especially the rhombic dode- 
cahedron from Oregon, Wisconsin, and those with faces of the hexoc- 
tahedron from Eagle and Kohlsville, Wisconsin, and Dowagiac, 
Michigan. 

Tin' stones from Saukvillc and Burlington, Wisconsin, are trisoc- 
trahedral and tetrahedral, respectively, and that from Ohio, now cut, 

was reported as an octahedron. All are more or less rounded and 
distorted, and a few show twinning. 

In color the stones arc white, to pale yellow, or with a greenish 
tinge, probably, as is often the case, superficial. They are generally 

transparent, the degree of transparency varying. 

The most interesting facts, however, in connection with these dia- 
monds concern their distribution and source. They have been found 
at eight localities, scattered through a region some 600 miles in length 
and 200 miles in breadth, and extending from Plum Creek, Wisconsin, 
to Milford, Ohio, almost exactly from northwest to southeast. Six 
of the localities are close toe-ether, within an area about 200 miles 
Square, near the center of which is the city of Milwaukee, and about 
equally distant from the two extremes named. 

It was soon recognized that these localities bore a close relation to 



PKECIOUS STONES. I 

the moraine of the later ice sheet. Most of the stones were found in 
glacial deposits on the lino of the actual terminal moraine. The one 
from Dowagiac, Michigan, was found on a moraine of recession, some- 
what behind the terminal one. Those from Plum Creek were found 
in stream gravel a little outside the moraine, but evidently washed out 
of it. The relations of the localities to the moraines are shown in a 
map prepared by Professor Hobbs from data furnished by Chamberlin, 
Leverett, Todd, and others, to whom reference is made in the paper. 
The next step is, of course, to endeavor to locate the unknown source 
by correlation of the glacial striae over this region and northward. 
The striae are plotted on this map and on another one from the works 
of the aforementioned glacialists and others, including in Canada 
Messrs. Upham, Bell, Mclnnes, and Low. The general result is that 
the striae of the diamond region are found to converge toward a point 
somewhere in the almost unexplored wilderness east of James Bay. 
near the, district assigned by Low and Tyrrell as the approximate 
center of movement of their Laurentide or Labradorean ice sheet. 

Professor Hobbs, in discussing the conditions of the diamond occur- 
rence, advances two theories: (1) That the stones had been removed 
from their matrix by preglacial ei-osion, and were gathered up and 
transported by the ice, with other loose material; or (2) that they had 
been carried in pieces of their matrix, and that the latter had been 
abraded and broken up during the earlier stages of the ice advance, and 
the diamonds thus freed for separate transportation in the latter stages. 
Professor Hobbs inclines toward the former view, and quotes a letter 
from Professor Chamberlin to the same purport. 

As to the original locality, the question arises whether there may be 
more than one. On general principles this is hardly deemed probable, 
for diamonds in quantity are of rare occurrence, and the number at the 
source or sources must have been considerable. "It is likely." says 
Professor Hobbs, "that for every diamond that has been found there 
are a thousand still undiscovered in the drift." Yet, as in Africa, 
there may be a district in which several diamantiferous outcrops may 
occur, yielding stones that differ to some extent from one another. 
The Oregon, Eagle, and Kohlsville stones are closely alike; the others 
differ somewhat in form and character. The width of the fan of 
distribution would indicate, if the source be one, or several near 
together, that it must lie far up toward the center of the glacial 
movement. 

For the further determination of these interesting points several 
lines of investigation are needful. In the first place, much work is 
necessary upon the. direction of stria' in the wilderness south of Hud- 
sou Bay, both to the east and to the west. It is also important to 
search the moraine line farther eastward — that is, in Ohio, New York, 
and Pennsvlvania — in order to ascertain whether any diamonds can be 



8 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

found there, and to determine the limits of the fan of distribution. 

Should this be found to extend farther east, "the apex 

would seem in be located very near the center of the Labradorean 

ndve\" In his inquiry Professor Hobbs is seeking to enlist the 

cooperat ion of :ill geologists I i \ i 1 1 ir near or working alone i Ih • morainal 

border. 

It ia of interest here to recall the fact, which at the time had no 
peculiar significance, thai in L890 1 the writer made reference to two 
diamonds which bad been exhibited for some time in Indianapolis and 

which were said to have been found in Indiana. They are described 

as elongated bexoctahedrons the Plum Creek and Dowagiac f orm of 
2 carats each; I. iii no particulars regarding their occurrence were 

known. l! would appear that these two stones came from some point 
about midway in the long interval between the Milwaukee-Dowagiac 
Central area anil the solitary occurrence in Ohio. 

1 1 is worth w bile, in this connection, to refer to the dist ribution of the 
diamond localities of Brazil, which occur at several distant points along 
the Sei'ia do Espinhaco, and are believed by some experts to form part 
of a diamantiferous belt following the crest of that range for several 
hundred miles. If such a condition existed in the Laurentide high- 
lands, the crossing by an ice sheet might easily distribute diamonds 
from several distinct sources throughout a lone- stretch of terminal 
moraine. 

Tennessee. 'The tirst record of the finding of a diamond in the State 
of Tennessee was made by Mr. Charles Waller, of Union Crossroads, 

Roane County. The stone is perfectly white and Haw less, anil weighed 
originally '■'< carats. It was found in close proximity to an Indian 
mound on the south hank of the Clinch River, Roane County, in a 
very slaty soil. Unfortunately, it was cut in New York before it was 

shown to the writer, so that no detailed description of the crystal is 
possible. Mr. II. W. Curtis bought the stone from Mr. Waller, and 

after having it cut. when it weighed I ' carats, he sold it to Mr. E. .1. 
Sanford, of Know ille, Tennessee, for $150. 

California. A paper on The Occurrence and Origin of Diamonds 
in ( lalifornia, by Mr. 1 1- W. Turner, of Washington, was published (by 
permission of the I >iredor of the United States Geological Survey) lust 
year." In this article Mr. Turner brines together and summarizes the 
discoveries of diamonds in the auriferous gravels of California, as 

described, at different times, by Prof. J. 1>. Whitney, Prof. Henry C. 
Hanks, and the writer, together with a few recent additions. These 
last, however, are neither numerous nor important, for the general use 
of stamp mills destroys the diamonds that may exist in the hardpan 
gravel, and their presence is revealed only by fragments found in 

i Gems and Precious Stones of North America, p. 84, 
\m Geologist, Vol. will March, 1899 



PRECIOUS STONES. 9 

the sluice-, and tailings. A number of localities are noted in Amador, 
Butte. Del Norte, Eldorado, Nevada, Plumas, and Trinity counties. 
Of these, Butte County, in the neighborhood of Cherokee Flat, and 
Eldorado County, near Plaeerville, have yielded a considerable num- 
ber. Plumas County is a new locality, from which Mr. J. A. Edman 
recently reports the rinding of some small diamonds, occurring in 
sands, at Gopher Hill and on Upper Spanish Creek. Most of the Cali- 
fornia diamonds are of small size; some have been cut, but many are 
held by the finders in their natural state. One, from Cherokee, is 
said to be valued at $250; another is in the State Museum of Min- 
eralogy. In a recent letter to the writer Mr. George W. Kimble, of 
Plaeerville, states that there are ten or twelve, crystals in the posses- 
sion of persons living in and near that place, which are valued by the 
tinders at from $50 to $200 each. 

In his paper Mr. Turner refers to the African occurrence, and 
seeks to trace a possible source for the California diamonds in the 
serpentine rocks of the Sierra Nevada. In the maps of the gold belt, 
published by the United States Geological Survey, he notes the occur- 
rence of serpentine masses in the vicinity of all the diamond localities 
reported; and though the rock itself does not appear in the gulches 
near Plaeerville, he cites Mr. Kimble as stating that serpentine peb- 
bles are frequent there in the diamond-bearing gravel, and are prob- 
ably derived from an outcrop 4 or 5 miles to the east. Mr. Turner 
suggests that a careful search in the local gravels of gulches lying in 
the serpentines may furnish a clue to the source of the diamonds scat- 
tered through the Tertiary gold gravels. 

The remainder of Mr. Turner's paper is a summary and discussion 
of recent views as to the origin of the South African diamonds, as pre- 
sented by Messrs. De Launay, H. C. Lewis, and William Crookes, 
and by Professor Derby in his article — reviewed in this report for last 
year 1 — on the modes of diamond occurrence in Brazil. 

A specimen found last summer in a Tertiary gravel deposit at Nel- 
son Point, Plumas County, California, by Mr. F. C. Mandeville, 
weighed about 2 carats and is valued at $75. It was determined and 
valued by Mr. A. W. Lord, jeweler, Quincy, California, and reported 
by Mr. J. A. Edman. 

AUSTRALIA. 

Australian Diamond Fidds, Limited. — The company known as the 
Australian Diamond Fields, Limited, whose mines are adjacent to_ 
those of the Inverell company, has acquired a tract of land com- 
prising 5(H> acres, which is thought to be highly promising. Only a 
few acres, however, have as yet been worked, and it appears that the 

i Twentieth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, Part VI (Continued), p 562, 



10 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

paying wash dirt is not continuous, but lies in patches and streaks. 
In view of these facts some disappointment was felt at the annual 
meeting of the stockholders of the company, but it was pointed out 
that only a small fraction of the deposit had been tested, and that there 
was n Kim for large and profitable developments to be made, besides the 
fact that there were associated tin deposits. The latest reports give 
an account of eight loads of wash dirt, yielding 132 carats of dia- 
monds — one of the largest averages yet attained. About £2,000 had 
been received during the year — £200 being for tin and nearly £700 
from share dealings. If the output should continue sufficient to 
develop the property more extensively, it was thought that it Mould 
prove very valuable. 

Bmgara. — The Bingara and Inverell diamond regions of New South 
Wales, to which references have been made in previous reports, 1 have 
been continuously worked and explored. A paper read by Mr. II. M. 
Porter, in 1898, before the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy of 
New South Wales, gives the results of some recent examinations, 
together with various data bearing on the mode of occurrence and the 
production. The conditions are as described in the reports for 1895 
and 1896, already mentioned, viz, a region of granite traversed by a 
belt of Carboniferous shale, and covered at intervals by a gravelly 
drift containing diamonds and tin, while an outflow of basalt overlies 
a considerable portion of the whole. Mr. Porter calls attention to 
the fact that in the region examined by him, the Boggy Camp district 
in the valley of the Gwydir River and its tributaries, some 10 miles 
southwest of Inverell and 30 miles east of Bingara, no diamonds are 
found in the tin-bearing drift beneath the basalt until the western 
edge of the Carboniferous belt has been passed. This belt has a 
NXW.-SSE. course across the upper tributaries of the Gwydir, whose 
general flow is westward, with the slope of the region, which is about 
30 feet to the mile. After the Carboniferous belt has been crossed, 
diamonds are at once found in the patches and areas of the old river 
drift. Mr. Porter maintains, therefore, that their source must be at 
or near the line of contact of the Carboniferous and the granite; he 
has traced it to apparently within a limit of a half mile, or to the 
deposit that yields diamonds in so great abundance, viz, at Daisey's 
mine, just west of the contact line; none occurring at that distance 
northeast of it, although the other associated minerals are present. 
Fifty loads were tested for this determination. Daisey's mine, more- 
ex er, which is close to the contact, is by far the richest of the district, 
and Mr. Porter regards it as doubtless very near the source. What 
connection there may be with the basalt is not yet clear, save that it 
has protected the old river gravels from later erosion, somewhat as in 

renteenth Ann. Rept. I'. S. Geol. Survey, Part III (Continued), p. 900; Eighteenth Aim. Kept. 
I S, Geol. Survey, PartV (Continued), p. 1188. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 11 

California. The upper stratum of the drift is sometimes covered 
with a conglomerate in which diamonds occur. Sonic have regarded 
this as a distinct rock, but Mr. Porter believes it to be simply a result 
of the overflow of the basalt cementing and compacting the gravel. 

With regard to the diamonds themselves, the crystals arc not large, 
their size usually ranging from one-sixteenth of a carat to 3 carats. 
One of between 6 and 7 carets has lately been found at the Star mine; 
fragments of larger stones also occur, one that was found indicating 
about 15 carets. Mr. Porter makes the surprising statement that 
large stones have not been looked for, the gratings used having only 
i-inch mesh, and all the lumps of dirt and cement above that size 
being thrown out on the dumps without examination, and the material 
is either washed away by freshets or covered with more debris. The 
diamonds found are of all colors and shades; in form they are chiefly 
octahedral. It is estimated that about 20,000 carats have thus far been 
obtained at Boggy Camp. 

BRAZIL. 

In the United States Consular Reports, May 12, 1899, a very full 
account is given by Mr. Thomas C. Dawson, secretary of the American 
legation to Brazil, of the diamond and gold mines of the State of 
Miuas Geraes, based on a recent visit of inspection. This great State, 
the most populous in Brazil— population, 3,000,000 to 4.000,000— and 
the richest in mineral treasures, covers an area of 220.000 square 
miles of elevated plateau, possesses a climate which is healthful and 
agreeable throughout the entire year, and is full of agricultural and 
mining resources both present and prospective. 

The diamond region has its center at Diamantina, a town with about 
5,000 inhabitants, 680 miles from Rio de Janeiro. It was founded 
as a gold-miners' camp late in the seventeenth century, and in 1729 
diamonds were discovered there. The Portuguese Government at 
once claimed the stones, and for about a hundred years diamond min- 
ing was a royal monopoly, until, in 1832, the Brazilian Government 
legalized private mining. Prior to that date the superintendents and 
contractors used negro slaves to work the mines, and the careless and 
wasteful methods employed have hopelessly covered with debris great 
areas of diamond-bearing gravels. 

Six diamond regions exist in Brazil, viz: (1) Diamantina; (2) Grao 
Magor, 150 miles to the north; (3) Bagagem, a less important district 
20( > miles to the southwest, although here the celebrated Star of the 
South diamond was found in 1853, and the region is but imperfectly 
explored; (-t) Chapada Diamantina, in the State of Bahia, noted for its 
black carbons; (5) Goyaz, and (6) Matto Grosso, in the States of those 
names, respectively. 

Diamantina, Grao Magor, and Chapada are on or near the crest of 
the Serra do Espiuhaco, or its continuations, which form the divide 



12 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

between the great Si£o Francisco River and the streams thai How to 
the coast between Rio and Bahia. Some experts arc of the opinion 
that all these localities belongtoa diamantiferous belt following along 
the crest of the serra for pei'haps 500 miles. 

There are four methods of" working. The simplest is that pursued 
in the small, steep stream \ alleys, with rocky sides, well up on the 
slopes of the serra. Their lieds are full of bowlders, and between 

these is the diamond-gravel known as the formapcio, which is easily 
recognized by the native prospector from certain minerals always sup- 
posed to be associated with the diamonds. Amone- them are cold, 
riitile, specular iron, tourmaline, and disthene (cyanite). The forma- 
cao is due- out iu the dry season, piled near the stream, and washed 
when the rains come. The washing is done first in a shallow excava- 
tion, a yard or so in area and a few inches deep, near the bank; the 
heavier and smaller stones are then further washed in a batea a 
wooden dish perhaps :;n inches in diameter. The concentrates are put 
into the batea, with water, and it is then shaken and whirled, the 
lighter gravel being separated by a sort of centrifugal process and 
swept over the edge. The remaining gravel is finally hand picked, ami 
the diamonds (if any) are taken out. The batea process requires much 
skill; it is similar to gold-panning, but the lower density of diamonds 

renders them more liable to be lost than gold. This method is the 

one generally used by the natives in both diamond and gold mining. 
The small stream workings are not now of much importance, having 
been largely exhausted by generations of gold and diamond seekers. 
Those who work them have usually little or no capital, and generally 
form small parties, who take their chances of finding virgin spots. 

The second, and principal, method is practiced in the larger stream 
beds, and requires considerable outlay and a large number of men. 
When the dry season opens, a portion of a river bed that is supposed, 
from documents or tradition, to be virgin ground is chosen. A.boveit 
is built a rou»'h dam, and the water of the stream is conducted around 
it by a sluiceway. The exposed bed is then seen to consist of sand, 
much of it from old workings, which has to be removed down to the 
forinacao layer, which lies on the bed rock perhaps 30 or 40 feet below 
the surface. The removal is effected by means id' wooden pans, hold- 
ing about a shovelful each, carried on the heads of nee-roes a slow and 
costly process. Attempts have been made to introduce carts and wheel- 
barrows, but without success, owing to the native conservatism. The 
work must be prosecuted rapidly, for the first heavy rains of the autumn 
wash away the dam and till the greal excavation. The water that 
enters during the working time is removed by pumps, operated by 
overshot wheels run by water from the sluiceway. Mr. Dawson gives 
an interesting account of the rude native pumps, etc. \o metal is 
used in their construction, the joints are mortised or hound with vines. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 13 

and there is no idea of definite measurements, all being done by the 

eye. Yet the pumps are adequate and successful for ordinary opera- 
tions, not. however, for any special or novel conditions, such as some- 
times arise, and of which be cites some instances. The formacao gravel, 
when reached, is taken out. piled on the banks, and washed when the 
rainy season comes. The result is extremely uncertain, for it may 
have been worked at some earlier time, in which case little or nothing 
is obtained. If not previously worked the yield is valuable. Much 
of the valley of the Jequitinhonha, the principle diamond-bearing river, 
has been worked at some time during the last two centuries from its 
source to Mendanha. Below that point the valley is too wide for such 
operations. This river-bed mining is conducted by local native com- 
panies, no foreign capital being engaged in it. 

The third method deals with the <jnj>iaras — small gravel deposits on 
the slopes or sides of the valleys, like the "hill wash" of the Burmese 
ruby mines. These spots, often only a few acres in area, are casually 
discovered and soon worked out, hut are often exceedingly rich. 
Over 160,000 carats of diamonds were taken in one season from a 
single gupiara of only 6 acres. 

The fourth method is pursued high up on the serra, where the dia- 
monds occur in conglomerates and clays — the sources whence they have 
been carried down into the valleys by erosion. The rocks are far less 
rich than the stream beds, in which there lias been a natural process of 
concentration; but there is much more of the material accessible. 
Some of them are soft and easily washed, but many are harder and 
less workable. After getting what diamonds they could from the 
softer-weathered portions, the Brazilians have tried to work the 
deeper deposits, when not too hard, by a sort of miniature hydraulic 
process. Rain water is collected in pools on the tops of the plateaus. 
and by means of a ditch is led to a promising outcrop, where it is made 
to wash gullies in the rock. An artificial formacao is thus produced, 
which is treated like the stream gravel. This method is very limited 
and slow, because it is impossible to collect sufficient water to do any- 
thing effective for more than a few days in the year — perhaps ten. as 
an average — and in some seasons no work at all can be done. Still. 
fortunes have been made, from these chapada mines, and some of them 
have been worked in this scanty fashion for nearly a hundred years. 

A company composed of French capitalists and known as the Com- 
panhia de Boa Vista is now about to undertake work of this kind on a 
great scale and with thoroughly scientific appliances. They have pur- 
chased a large tract of plateau, or chapada, of diamantiferous con- 
glomerate, partially worked as above described, near Diamantina. 
Their director is Mr. Lavandeyra, an American citizen born in tuba, 
a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and at one time 
engaged on the Panama Canal. He has met ami overcome extreme 



14 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

difficulties, requiring novel methods in both design and application. 
The result is a plant of the most modern construction, consisting of 
two large reservoirs, at and near the top of the chapada, for washing, 
and pumps operated by electric motors connected by wires with a 
dynamo station a thousand feet lower where water power is obtained 
from the Santa Maria River, the water being carried in a 20-inch pipe 
for over a mile, with a fall of 340 feet. The washing machinery was 
made in Europe; the electrical machinery in America. All had to 1 e 
transported in ox carts or on mules over a hundred miles of moun- 
tain trails, and repairs and adjustments had to be provided for in a 
country where horseshoeing is the limit of metallurgical skill. The 
natives are very incredulous as to the enterprise; but it can hardly fail 
to be highly profitable if the conglomerate rock is anywhere near as 
rich as there is reason to suppose. This is the first step in the intro- 
duction of modern scientific methods in the Brazilian diamond country, 
and if it proves successful it will surely be followed by many others. 

The crystals obtained are generally sold by the tinders to purchasers 
who frequent the neighboring villages, though many are taken to Dia- 
mantina and sold to regular dealers there. The prices vary widely, 
not only with the size and quality of the stones, but with fluctuations of 
the currency, and also with the needs of the seller. Ten dollars a carat 
(To milreis) may he taken as an average. The exported gems usually 
go to Paris or London, none coming direct to the United States, 
although this is the largest diamond-purchasing country in the world 
and consumes almost half of the African product. Mr. Dawson thinks 
that American diamond buyers might better go to Brazil than to Europe 
for their purchases. The Brazilian stones generally have a higher 
value than the African, being whiter and commanding one-half more 
in price; colored diamonds also occur, the rose, blue, and wine colored 
being highly prized. 

Regarding the amount produced, the lack of statistics renders it very 
difficult to ascertain. The buyers are, and always have been, so nu- 
merous and so scattered that no records can be had. and all published 
statements are merely rough estimates. Extensive mining began in 
1740, when the Portuguese Government gave the first lease. From 
1750 to 177o was the period of largest production, which tradition 
places at 150,000 carats a year. During the previous decade it had 
averaged one-third of that amount. In 1771 the Government u>ok 
charge of the mining, and some, definite records were kept, which 
-bowed an annual output of about 40,000 carats. But a great deal of 
surreptitious mining was done, by individuals, of which, of course, no 
records were made. This condition lasted until about the end < f the 
century, by which time the Government production had fallen to 
20,000 carats, while the contraband lion is estimated to have 

been fully as large. With the political changes ami uncertainties of 



PBEOIOUS STONES. 15 

the Napoleonic period, the Government mining was less can-fully 
attended to and gradually gave place to private workings. Since 
then the production has varied much. The freedom of mining has 
tended to increase it, but the better-known and more accessible locali- 
ties have been gradually worked out and improved methods have not 
I teen introduced. Sir Richard Burton, who visited Diamantina in 1867, 
reported a prosperous condition and an annual output of 80,000 carats. 
The present production is estimated at about one-third that amount. 

Within the last thirty years an important diamond-cutting industry 
has fjrown up in Diamantina and the adjacent villages. The little 
mills are worked by water power; the process of cutting is the same 
as that in Europe. The machinery comes from Holland, and the work 
is both well and cheaply done. Most of the st« mes are cut as brilliants. 
The manufacture of gold jewelry has also developed. The workmen 
are principally Portuguese, and are skillful and industrious. The 
designs are old-fashioned, and filagree work is popular. This jewelry 
is peddled about through the country and rinds a ready sale. 

Dr. Eugene Hussak, of the School of Mines, Sao Paulo, Brazil, has 
published 1 an admirable article entering fully into a description of 
the so-called favas found in the Brazilian diamond sands. This is a 
valuable contribution to the literature on the occurrence of diamonds 
in Brazil. 

These favas (the name meaning bean or pea) are circular or flat, 
rounded and waterworn concretions or pebbles, measuring two-fifths of 
an inch in width and from one-fifth to two-fifths of an inch in length. 
They are yellow, leather brown, tile red, dark gray, or blue gray in 
color, compact in structure, and of high specific gravity. They are 
found everywhere in the washing of the diamond sands (cascalhos), 
together with the accompanying minerals of the diamond — Leitmin- 
erale (boa formacao). They were first described by Damour, 2 and are 
classified as follows: (1) Siliceous favas, generally yellow-brown jas- 
per or hornstone; (2) a hydrophosphate of alumina, with a specific 
gravity of 3.14; and (3) those termed by Damour chlorophosphate. 

In this investigation Dr. Hussak enters into an exhaustive descrip- 
tion of forms, appearances, and associations of all the minerals, with 
many references to the literature on the subject. Dr. Hussak has also 
carefully sorted the minerals from nine great mining districts, viz. 
Bio Paraguassu (Bandeira do Mello), San Isabel do Paraguassu, Mte. 
Veneno, Andarahy, Lencoes, Pitanga, Salobro, and Sincora, and has 
separated and given a description of the 39 associated minerals, as fol- 
lows: Quartz, sandstone (siliceous slate) and jasper, orthoclase, biotite, 
muscovite, chlorite, talc, amphibole, epidote, garnet, sapphire and 
ruby, monazite, xenotime. eeylonite, fibroceylonite, fibrolite, disthene, 



I si hermaks mineral, und petrog. Mittheil., Vol. XVIII. No. 1. 1S99, pp.334-359. 
= Bull. Sue. geol. France, 2d Beries, Vol. XIII, 1855-56. 



10 



MINERAL RESOURCES. 



diaspore, rutile, anatase, brookite, cassiterite, columbite, zircon, 
chrysoberyl, ouclase, titanite, tourmaline, staurolite, lazulite, ilmenite, 
magnetite, pyrite, limonite, psilomelane, marcasite, cinnabar, and gold. 
He finds that the blue-gray titaniferous favas contain, according to 
analysis by Mr. W. Florence, the following constituents, showing them 
to be arkansite or anatase in pebble form: 

. 1 nalysis of blue-gray titaniferous favas from Brazil. 



Constituent. 



Ti0 2 

A.1A 

Fe 2 3 -- 

CaO 

Water, by ignition 

Total 



Per cent. 



98. 98 
.15 

.10 

. 1.". 



100. 15 



These favas have a specific gravity of 3.7'.>4, a hardness very near that 
of quartz, and are generally in octohedral forms, but frequently in 
rolled pebbles. 

A fava from Rio Cipo gave a specific gravity of 3.95 and a hardness 
of 6. 

Analysis of favas from Rio Cipo, Brazil. 

[W. Florence, analyst.] 



Constituent. 



Tin, 

va 

Water, by ignition 
Total 



Per cent. 



'.IS. SO 

.86 
.53 



LOO. 25 



PRICE OF THE DIAMOND. 

The syndicate which purchased the diamond output felt that the 
coming prosperity and increased demand warranted them in advancing 
the price of the gems. Commencing with May last they made several 
advances of ■"> per cent, until, in December of the present year (1899), 
the price of cut diamonds had increased 30 per cent. This advance 
was not due to tiny stringency or lack of supply caused by the Trans- 
vaal war. to which many attribute it. The increase in price caused 
great trouble among the diamond-cutting firms, both abroad and in 
the United States, and in February, L900, it resulted in the shutting 



PRECIOUS STONES. 17 

up of many of the workshops. It is said that in Amsterdam alone 
2,500 diamond cutters suspended work, and in the United States about 
400. Many owners of old and what may be termed pre- African mine 
stones — that is. old Brazilian stones, which were poorer in cutting, as 
compared with modern methods, and generally imperfect — learning of 
an advance in the price of diamonds, thought this an excellent oppor- 
tunity for them to dispose of their gems; but, not realizing that 
diamonds are always sold on a gold basis, and that many of their 
stones were bought when gold was at a premium of 2.70 and at a 
time when diamonds of more than 2 carats were extremely rare, 
their attempts to dispose of them were naturally disappointing. 

SOURCE AND ORIGIN OF THE DIAMOND. 

The much-debated question of the source and origin of the African 
diamonds has been approached afresh, in the light of recent observa- 
tions, by Mr. T. G. Bonney, in a lecture before the Royal Society of 
London, June 1, 1899. After describing the structure of the Kim- 
beri'ey pipes and the associated minerals found in the blue ground, Mr. 
Bonney reviewed the theories as to their origin thus far held. The 
late Prof. H. Carvill Lewis regarded the rock as a porphyritic perido- 
tite more or less serpentined, sometimes passing into a tuff or breccia, 
and the diamonds are derived by the action of this heated material in 
traversing the carbonaceous Karoo shales. 1 Others have regarded it 
as a clastic rock, a volcanic breccia in fact, formed by deep explosions of 
steam and heated waters, causing uprushes that broke through the sedi- 
mentary beds and filled the pipes thus made with debris from the rocks 
traversed and with fragments of crystalline floor rocks. This view 
was held by Mr. Bonney, 3 and a somewhat similar one by Dr. William 
Crookes. 3 The progress of investigation, according to Mr. Bonney, 
had lately reached a stage where the view that the diamonds were. 
derived from below, rather than formed in situ, had gained many sup- 
porters; no evidences of the former presence of peridotite had been 
found, and, lastly, diamonds had been discovered in so close relation 
with the pyrope garnets that a common source was indicated. At a 
depth of 300 feet in the Newlands mine, in Griqualand West, the 
director, Mr. Trudenbach, had found a specimen of pyrope partly 
embedded in blue ground and inclosing a small diamond, with others 
closely adjacent. Appreciating the importance of this discovery, he 
made further examination and collected a number of rounded bowlders, 
some of them a foot in diameter, which occur in the blue ground to a 
depth of 300 feet. These were largely of eclogite, pyrope and chrome 

1 Eighteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, Part V (Continued), pp. 1191-1195. 
- Nineteenth Ann. Rept. 0. S. Geol. Survey, Part VI (Continued), pp. 500-501. 
a Ibid, p. 502. 

2646 2 



1 8 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

diopside, and on being broken some were found to contain small 
diamonds. 

Mr. Bonney describes these remarkable specimens, several of which 
have been examined by himself and Dr. Crookes, and draws from them 
the following important conclusions: (1) The diamond here occurs in 
truly waterworn bowlders of eclogite, which rock is at least one 
original matrix of diamond; (2) the diamonds are derivative minerals 
and not formed in the blue ground; (3) the blue ground is not an 
altered peridotite, but a volcanic breccia, as maintained by Bonney and 
Crookes. The extreme alterations in both the mass and the included 
fragments are explained by the long-continued action of steam and 
heated water ascending through the pipes, winch had been filled with 
mine-led debris of all the rocks down to the seat of the outbreak. 

It may be observed, in addition, that the bowlders found here, and 
also noted byStelzner 1 at Kimberley, indicate a land surface traversed 
by rivers and composed of these rocks (eclogite and diabase), at least 
in part, now buried beneath the entire depth of the Triassic Karoo 
shales, thus showing a great depression of this whole region from its 
Paleozoic level. The age of the crystalline rocks themselves is. of 
course, unknown, though it is clearly very remote. These geologic 
aspects a re of great interest, although Mr. Bonney's lecture deals mainly 
with the problem relating to diamond genesis, so largely discussed by 
himself and others. 

CORUNDUM GEMS. 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

The ruby corundum of the Cowee Valley of North Carolina, first 
noted by the writer.' has recently been described quite fully in an arti- 
cle ••()!! a new mode of occurrence of ruby in North Carolina," by 
Prof. J. W. Judd and Mr. W. E. Hidden/' Professor Judd, it will be 
remembered, was associated with Mr. C. Barrington Brown in the 
celebrated report upon the ruby mines of Burma, reviewed in this 
report for L895.' In that article he gives some of the conclusions 
arrived at by Mr. Brown during his visit to the Cowee Valley district 
in L896, mentioned in the report of this bureau for that year ' as likely 
to yield interesting results. 

The lirst reports stated that the corundum crystals were found in 
the debris of a calcareous rock underneath the surface deposits of the 

iSitzungsb. ii i>< I Al.haii.il. d.T Gesell. Isis., Dresden, L893. p. 71. 

Mnin.ii Resourcesol the United States, 1898, p. 693; Sixteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, Part 
l\-_ p ,99 sei enteenth Ann. Repl. r. s. .:.■<. I. Survey, Part III (Continued), p. 905; Eighteenth Ann. 
Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, Pari V (Continued) , p. 1197. 

rour. Sei., Vol. VIII, Ith series, No. 17, November, 1899, p 370. 
'Seventeenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, Pari III (Continued), pp. 905-906. 
i hi,. ■nth Ann. Rept. 0. S. Geol. Survey, Part V (Continued), p. 1197. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 19 

Cowee Valley, and had even been traced to a limestone matrix adjoin- 
ing-. The resemblance to the Burman occurrence was apparently' 
striking, and the examination by Mr. Brown was awaited with interest, 
It now appears that the first accounts were not strictly correct, and 
that the crystals are not derived from a limestone at all, but from cer- 
tain highly altered basic silicate rocks, probably of igneous origin. 
The country rock is gneissic, often cprrying garnet and corundum, but 
the latter is in elongated prismatic fornix and not of gem quality. 
These gneisses are also traversed by dikes of pegmatite. Garnet is 
mined as an abrasive in some of gneissic rocks, and mica is mined in 
the pegmatite. None of the dunite rocks or derived serpentines which 
we associated with the noted corundum localities at Buck Creek, Elli- 
jay, etc., are found in the Cowee district, though the distance between 
them is not great; and no limestones occur within 8 or 10 miles of the 
ruby-bearing alluvium. 

The surface deposits are underlain by several feet of gravel, beneath 
which is a soft, decomposed rock termed saprolite, resulting from 
the decay, in place, of basic silicates. The unaltered rock is found 
below, sometimes at considerable depths. The saprolite, washed and 
microscopically examined, is found to consist largely of scales of 
hydrous micas, through which are distributed the less-changed or 
unchanged minerals— fibrolite, staurolite, etc.— with rutile, menac- 
canite. monazite, and spinel, much garnet (including the brilliant gem 
variety rhodolite, to which reference is made elsewhere), corundum, 
and a little gold and sperrylite. 

At a depth of 35 feet this material begins to show fragments of basic 
rocks, and at lower depths gradually passes into them. These basic 
rocks include hornblende-eclogite(garnet-amphibolite of some authors), 
amphibolite. and a basic hornblende-gneiss containing labradorite and 
perhaps anorthite. A full description of these rocks is deferred until 
further explorations have been completed and material obtained more 
free from alterations. Professor Judd states that "it is as vet uncer- 
tain whether these rocks occur as dikes or as alternating interfoliated 
masses in the crystalline series." 

The extreme decomposition of these basic rocks into the saprolite 
condition is thought to be connected with a very marked system of 
faults and slickensides by which they are traversed, and which must 
have afforded easy access to water, with consequent alteration. The 
saprolite contains much eclogite and amphibolite, sometimes in large 
pieces, which have escaped disintegration, and these usually have 
nuclei of pure hornblende. Corundum is especially abundant adja- 
cent to these hornblende lenticles, sometimes pure and often in altered 
pseudomorphs. 

The corundum itself varies from white or colorless, through various 
shades of pink, to a true ruby tint, resembling the color of fine Burman 



20 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

gems, and to other varieties of red. In nearly all instances the ciys- 
tals have inclusions — the cloudy "silk" of microscopic fibers, minute 
rutile and menaccanite, and sometimes well-developed garnets; but 
many small ones are of clear gem quality. The best crystals show the 
tabular form which Lagorio regards as belonging to corundum that has 
crystallized from an igneous magma. So general, indeed, is this form 
that any long prismatic crystal found with the others is suspected of 
bring derived from the adjacent gneiss rock, in which this is the 
prevailing type. The crystals occur either in the midst of the rock, or 
grouped in bands or nest's, or in what appear to have been cavities, 
alike in the eclogite, the amphibolite, or the hornblende-gneiss. "These 
spaces, when the corundum is pale colored, appear to have been filled 
up with the feldspathic material; but when the corundum is of a ruby 
red. the surrounding space is filled up with chloritic material." 

Alteration of corundum has taken place very extensively, as in 
Burma, apparently first by hydration and then by combination of the 
resulting diaspore with surrounding silicates. "It is surprising to see 
the positive evidence of the former existence of hundreds of pounds 
weight of ruby and other corundum, where to-day only a few ounces 
of fragments or flakes remain." These often exist as the centers of 
altered masses, which preserve the entire form of the original corundum 
crystals and are embedded in the rock. 

Passing, then, to the associated minerals, by far the most notable 
is the purplish-pink garnet, designated as rhodolite, which is else- 
where described in this paper and has been referred to in previous 
reports. 1 It is found chiefly in rolled fragments, with corundum and 
the associated minerals, in the gravel and the saprolite. The only 
crystals thus far obtained are very small dodecahedrons and trapezo- 
hedrons, occurring as inclusions in the ruby corundum. This feature is 
peculiar to the Cowee district, being entirely unknown in the corun- 
dums of the peridotite (dunite) areas or their contact zones with the 
schists. There is ample evidence that these garnets ciwstallized first 
and the corundum later, more or less inclosing the former. Ruby 
crystals exhibit the garnets either partly or wholly included, and also 
often show cavities where the garnets have decomposed — artificial 
casts reproducing the garnet forms. A striking figure is given of a 
low prism of corundum with three trapezohedral garnets about half 
inclosed and half protruding. 

Spinel, so frequently an associate in Burma, is rare here, the ruby 
variety being entirely absent. Among minerals suggestive of contact 
alteration are sillimanite (tibrolite). cyanite, staurolite, and iolite, the 
staurolite being sometimes clear and gem-like. The ferromagnesian 

'Seventeenth Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey. Part III (Continued!, p. 911; Eighteenth Ann. Rept. 
I - Geol. Survey, 1'art V (Continued), p. 1197; Nineteenth Ann. Rept. r. S. Geol. Survey, Part VI 
(Continued), p. 505. 



PEECIOUS STONES. 21 

silicates are chiefly a soda hornblende and a bronzite in transparent 
masses suitable for gems — an interesting novelty. Other species are 
zircon, monazite. rutile, and menaccanite, and among metallic species 
pyrite, ehalcopyrite, nickeliferous pyrrhotite. blende, sperrylite, and 
gold. 

In summing up, the paper notes that three distinct modes of occur- 
rence for corundum are now recognized in North Carolina: (1) In the 
crystalline schists, as long prismatic crystals, usually gray, pink, or 
blue; (2) in the peridotites (dunites) that intersect the schists, espe- 
cially at the contact zones, the crystals, often large and varied in color, 
but never, or very rarely, of gem quality; and (3) in the garnetifer- 
ous basic rocks of the Cowee district as small crystals, low hexagonal 
or tabular, and partly rhombohedral, frequently transparent and of a 
line red color. The second of these modes of occurrence has been 
described and discussed by Dr. J. H. Pratt in the article elsewhere 
reviewed in this paper. 

Throughout this region there seems to be nothing resembling the 
mode of occurrence in Ontario — in syenitic dikes associated with 
nepheline, so fully described in the article of Professor Miller, also 
reviewed in this paper. This would indicate still a fourth association 
for corundum, entirely distinct, unless, indeed, the promised further 
examination of the basic rocks that have yielded the saprolite may 
develop resemblances. 

The forms of the Cowee crystals are quite fully treated in a supple- 
mentary paper by Dr. Pratt, and compared with those of the sapphires 
from Vugo Gulch. Montana, described by him in 1897. l It then 
appeared that the basal and prismatic types among Montana crystals 
were characteristic of the .Missouri bars, while rhombohedral forms 
were marked in the Togo Gulch specimens; and this difference was 
referred to in the paper just cited" as peculiar, in view of both types 
being derived from igneous rocks of the same general region. In the 
Cowee specimens, however, the two types appear from the same rocks, 
and no such distinction is recognizable. Some of the crystals are 
noted as having a very close resemblance to Montana specimens 
described in Dr. Pratt's former article and o.thers to Burman crystals 
studied and figured by Dr. Max Bauer. 3 The striations, passing into tri- 
angular steps on the basal plane, also observed on Togo Gulch sap- 
phires, are frequent and conspicuous on the specimens from ( !owee. 

These forms of corundum crystals are considered by Lagorio, as 
already mentioned, to be characteristic of those that have separated 
from an igneous magma. The singular fact that the Cowee crystals 
were formed subsequent to the garnets which they inclose or envelop 

'Am. Jour. Sci.. 4th series, Vol. IV, p. 424; Eighteenth Ann. Rept. I'. S. Geol. survey. Part V (Con- 
tinued), pp. 1200-1201. 
= Eighteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, Part V (Continued i, pp. 1200-1201. 
•Neues Jahrb. fiir Mineral., 1896, Vol. II, p. 1ST. 



22 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

is considered in its bearing on this theory, with which it at first seems 
incompatible, the fusing point of garnet being far below thai of 
corundum. The point is noted, however, that an important distinction 
has been overlooked. "The temperature at which alumina is dissolved 
in a mixture of silicates has no necessary connection with the fusing 
point of alumina itself." The perfect crystals of garnet prove that 
the rock must have consolidated from a magma in a state of (perhaps 
aqueo-igneous) fusion at a temperature below the fusing point of the 
garnets; and at such temperatures Morozewiez has shown that alumina 
may be dissolved in basic magma and slowly crystallize out. This con- 
dition would explain the peculiar relations of these minerals atCowee. 
I it closing, Prof essor Judd alludes to the marked difference between 
the corundum-bearing rock here and the limestone matrix in Burmah, 
althoughmuch in (be association is very similar, lie recalls the views 
suggested by himself, that the Burman limestone may have been pro- 
duced by the alteration of a lime feldspar, 1 and suggests that the 
original magma may not have differed very widely in the two eases. 
although the resulting products arc very unlike. He looks to further 
investigation as promising much light on the manner of formation of 
corundum when fuller data are gathered in the Cowee region as to the 
rocks and their associated minerals. 

CALIFORNIA. 

A very interesting discovery of corundum in Plumas County. Cali- 
fornia, has been made by Mr. .). A. Kdman. in his studies of the great 
serpentine belt of (hat district. Plumas County is traversed at various 
points by large dikes, chiefly of felsites and felsitic porphyries. At a 
point near the western base of the serpentine, a large felsitic dike, or 
rather pipe, outcrops on the surface, and in the soil near it were 
found fragments of a feldspar containing corundum crystals. Further 
explorations have shown a layer of feldspar 4 feet wide between the 
dike matter and the serpentine. This feldspar is much altered in the 
vicinity of the intruded mass, and has since suffei'ed much decompo- 
sition, but contains few signs of developed corundum crystals. The 
feldspathic fragments found in the soil below the dike frequently eon- 
tain crystals of gray corundum, and single crystals are occasionally 
obtained by washing the soil. 

The largest crystal thus far found is '2 inches long by 1 inch wide, of 
a bluish-gray color, and with a specific gravity of 3.91* In its interior 
it shows several blue zones parallel to tin- faces of the prism. The 
general habit of the crystals is that of the hexagonal pyramid, tabular 
forms occasionally occurring. 

i Seventeenth Ann. Rept. U. s. Geol. survey, Part 111 (Continued), pp. 90S 906 



PRECIOUS STONES. 23 

The associated feldspar, which has not yet been fully determined, is 
probably a mixture of several varieties or species of that mineral with 
amorphous corundum, a fact which is indicated both by its varying 
hardness and by the frequently noted condition of the corundum crys- 
tals, from which small veins and strings of corundum ramify into the 
feldspathic mass surrounding them. This is a very peculiar feature 
and one rarely or never noted elsewhere. The deposit appears to 
verify remarkably the theoretical deductions drawn from the experi- 
ments of Joseph Morozewicz, as described in his late paper. 1 

Some specimens from the outer edge of the feldspar zone indicate 
that the feldspathic matter, in a plastic condition, has apparently pene- 
trate! 1 among the shattered fragments of the serpentine and cemented 
them into a breccia. 

No gems or clear crystals have yet been found, nor, indeed, have 
they been specially searched for. hut Mr. Edman will explore the bed 
of an adjoining gulch when a supply of water can be had. The soil 
below the dike will also be carefully washed to determine whether any 
sapphires are present. The extent of the deposit has not yet been 
determined. 

CANADA. 

A full account of the corundum deposits of Canada, which were 
referred to in this report for 1S97, 3 has lately appeared in the Report 
of the Bureau of Mines of Ontario, Vol. VII. part 3, 1898. It describes 
in detail the history, explorations, occurrence, and distribution of 
these apparently extensive and important corundum beds, as examined 
for the bureau by Mr. Willet G. Miller, the author of the report, and 
others associated with him as field assistants or in special laboratory 
tests. Although corundum was reported near Burgess as long ago as 
1863, 3 by the late Prof. T. S. Hunt, yet the locality had been almost lost 
sight of, and the occurrence had attracted little notice. In 1896 Mr. 
AY. F. Ferrier, lithologist, of the Dominion survey, recognized and 
announced it from Carlow Township, in Hastings County.* The 
appointment of Mr. Miller for a special investigation followed in the 
next season, and the work here described was done between the 
months of June and November, 1897. One or two localities were 
thoroughly examined, the mode of occurrence was determined, and the 
mineral then traced at several localities through a somewhat extended 
adjacent region. The occurrence near Burgess was looked up and 
rediscovered, and other occurrences also were located in that vicinity. 

The corundum occurs chiefly in dikes of syenite penetrating a dark- 



1 Experimuutelle Untersuchungen uber die Biklung der Minerale in Magma: Tschermaks mineral, 
iin.l petrog. Mittheil., Vol. XVIII, Nos. 2 and 3, pp. 105-240. 
^Twentieth Ann. Rept. U.S. Geol. Survey, Part VI (Continued), pp.570-673. 
"Geology of Canada, 1863, p. 499. 
■* Rept. Bureau of Mines of Ontario, Vol. VI, pp. Gl-63. 



24 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

colored gneissic rock <>l' Laurent jan ,age, which itself is regarded as of 
igneous character originally a gab.bro or gabbro-diorite, ^ ith these 
syenite dikes arc closely associated other dikes of granite which do 
imt carry corundum; and all are traversed by a later series of vei,ns 
and dikes of pegmatite, also barren of corundum. In this respecl the 
earlier statement referred to in this report ' must be modified. The 
only occurrence of corundum, other than in the syenite, is that at the 
rediscovered locality at North Burgess, where it is found in crystalline 
limestone, as in Burma and northern New Jersey, in a wholly differ- 
ent association. The form here is that of small crystalline grains of 
ros\ red and blue colors, which are harder than topaz; Imt they have 
not been thoroughly analyzed and may |>ossil>ly prove to he spinel. 

The syenite rock, which alone carries the corundum that has any 
value, presents some peculiar and interesting features. It contains 
quite largely the mineral nepheline, and a curious relation, of a some- 
what inverse character, exists between the content of nepheline and 
that of corundum. The rock is mainly feldspathic, in color usually 
pink, though often gray or white; hornblende is present frequently, 
also a white and a black mica: hut there is absolutely no quartz. The 
feldspar is more or less replaced by the related mineral nepheline, and 
corundum is often abundant. In the nepheline-syenite the corundum 
is less plentiful, soinel imes absent, hut its crystals are well formed 
and distinct, while in the feldspathic syenite it is more abundant, hut 
not SO widl formed. 

Mr. Miller describes how he made use of this difference in his explo- 
rations. When he encountered nepheline-syenite without corundum. 

by following the strike he soon found the nephelite diminishing in 
amount and the corundum coming in. The ordinary syenite and the 

nepheline-syenite might he taken for rocks of distinct origin, were it 
not for the fact that they both contain corundum and that they pass 
into each other, sometimes very gradually, sometimes quite abruptly. 
The feldspars contain an average of about 2»» iter cent of alumina, 
while nephelite contains about 34 per cent. It would seem, therefore, 
that in some way the alumina present in the mass in excess of the feld- 
spars has ill some cases combined with liases and silica as nephelite 
and in others remained free as corundum. A very interesting discus- 
sion is given upon this point, The presence of corundum in igneous 
rocks has been attributed by some to their having cut through highly 
aluminous beds iii the course of their extrusion and having thus taken 
up an excess of alumina, which crystallized out as corundum during 
the COOling of the mass. Ill the case of the nepheline-syeniles this 
alumina would unite with silica and bases, if such there were in proper 
amount, to form nephelite. hut Mr. Miller does not regard this con- 
dition as necessary. He gives it as but one of three hypotheses to 



i Nineteenth Ann. Rept. U. S Geol. Survey, Part VI (Continued) , pp. 50 i 



PRECIOUS STONES. 25 

account for the excess of alumina, the others being that the rocks are 
either (1) re-fused sedimentary matter or (2) derived from an original 
magma rich in alumina. The gneissoid rocks which the syenite dikes 
traverse contain about 20 per cent of alumina — an average of three 
analyses — while ordinary syenites, or those carrying mica, hornblende, 
or augite, contain from 16 to 17 per cent alumina, and nepheline- 
syenites about 22 per cent alumina. Mr. Miller goes on to say: 

Thus there is a difference between the alumina contents of the nepheline-syenite 
and other syenites of, '>n the average. 5 per cent. Since corundum is absent in parts 
of some of the dikes and masses and is absent or very sparingly present in the whole 
of other dikes or masses, it may be safe to assume that the proportion of free alumina 
(corundum) in all of the syenite of all kinds in the district is less than 5 per cent. 
In considering the origin of the corundum the question then arises, Did that part of 
the magma from which the syenites '■ ■ originated possess a chemical compo- 

sition similar to that of nepheline-syenite, and would this magma under the proper 
conditions have crystallized into a mass composed largely of nepheline-syenite with 
no free alumina, or was the part of the alumina now existing as corundum originally 
a constituent of nepheline or other mineral, and was this mineral decomposed, giv- 
ing rise to less highly aluminous silicates and corundum? 

The syenite dikes vary in width from a few inches to large masses 
covering considerable areas. The granite dikes and masses contain no 
corundum and were not particularly examined, once this feature was 
found to be constant. The relations of the two rocks are not yet 
determined, though Mr. Miller inclines to regard them as belonging 
to the same period. There is often close resemblance between them, 
but the presence of quartz in the granite and its absence in the syenite 
is a constant feature of distinction. The later series of dikes of 
pegmatite or coarsely crystalline granite also resemble some varieties 
of the syenite, especially those of coarser texture and pink color. 

Nepheline being generally a rare mineral, some curious mistakes are 
noted on the part of landowners. In one case it was mistaken for lime- 
stone, and persistent attempts were made to burn it in kilns, with results 
more interesting to the mineralogist than to the lime seeker. In some 
instances the nepheline was fused and the feldspar left as a sort of 
skeleton of the rock. Sometimes, when not quite fused, the nepheline 
had assumed a blue color on the surface, resembling the sodalite which 
is frequently associated with it. Another unprofitable experiment 
planned, but not carried out, was to ship a quantity of the rock to 
Detroit as a particularly pure feldspar for porcelain making. 

The region characterized by the presence of these" syenites is now 
found to lie quite extensive. The rock occurs at a number of points, 
which tall into three somewhat parallel belts, with a course from a 
little north of east to south of west, in the counties of Renfrew, Has- 
tings, and Peterboro. These belts or bands are, respectively, distant 
about 60, 40, and 20 miles NNW. from the Canadian Pacific Railway. 
on its course between Peterboro and Sharbot Lake. The northern 



26 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

band is by far the most extensive and important. It has been traced 
by Mr. Miller and his assistants for a distance of some 30 miles in 
Renfrew County and the northern part of Hastings County, through 
the townships of Sebastopol, Brudenell, Lyndoch, Radcliffe, Raglan, 
Carlow, and Bangor, in all of which corundum occurs. The second 
band of nepheline-syenite appears at two points — an area in Dungan- 
iidii and Faraday townships, Hastings County — and a smaller one west 
of it in Glamorgan Township, Peterboro County, on the edge of 
Haliburton. At these points, however, no corundum has yet been 
found. The third belt is represented by a small region in Methuen 
Township, Peterboro County, where corundum again occurs as in the 
northern belt. At present the Methuen locality is opened and worked 
for mica only, the corundum not being abundant. In some cases, how- 
ever, it is blue and somewhat translucent, making a nearer approach 
to gem varieties than that from anywhere else in the Ontario region. 

The middle belt, as stated, carries no corundum. It has been studied 
by Dr. F. I>. Adams and others on behalf of the Dominion survey, 
chiefly in its geologic aspects and on account of the remarkable devel- 
opment of the nepheline-syenite. Mr. Miller thinks that probably 
corundum may occur sparingly at points, but that, not having been 
particularly sought, it has hitherto escaped notice. 

The northern belt is the only one in which corundum occurs in quan- 
tities or promises to be commercially important. Here the district is 
30 mill's in length and varies in width from :! or 4 miles to 8 or '.* miles, 
and outcrops have been found over an area of nearly 100 square miles. 
Much of the report IS occupied by a detailed account of these outcrops. 
and the mode of occurrence of the corundum in each township. 

Mi-. Miller, in closing this part of his report, treats of several inter- 
esting mineral occurrences in the corundum district, and particularly 
of a locality in Lyndoch Township, where beryl is found, with quartz 
and amazon-stone, together with some fluorite, and one or two rare 
minerals, apparently columbite and perhaps samarskite or f ergusonite, 
the former in some abundance and the last of special interest from its 
connection with helium. These •"rare earth" minerals are new to 
Ontario Province, and Mr. Miller discusses their mode of occurrence 
and association as compared with localities in the United States. 

Two supplementary reports follow, one on analyses of corundum 
and corundiferous rocks, by Mr. W. L. Goodwin, and one on concen- 
tration of corundum, by Mr. Courtenay De Ivalb, of the Kingston 

Scl I of Mining. Mr. Goodwin's report gives results of analyse.-- of 

i Canadian corundum, showing a percentage of alumina varying between 
i)6.26and '.»7.L'7. He then discusses met hods of determining the amount 
of corundum in rock samples, a work which is attended with consider- 
able difficulty. The method employed was based upon the nonsolu- 
bility of corundum, especially after ignition, in hydrofluoric acid, 



PRECIOUS STONES. 27 

which dissolves the other rock contents. Some results are given, and 
the investigation is stated to be still in progress. 

The second paper is quite elaborate and deals with a variety of tests 
and processes, being illustrated with tables and diagrams for crushing, 
separating, and concentrating. Mr. De Kalb concludes, among other 
results, that the prospect of employing corundum as an ore of alumi- 
num is not very promising. He obtained a product carrying over 99 
per cent of corundum. This contained, however, *)A per cent of silica 
and 0.39 per cent of ferric oxide, while selected grains had nearly as 
much iron, though the silica was reduced to 0.07 per cent. As the 
aluminum manufacturers require a material that shall not contain more 
than 0.10 per cent of silica and 0.05 per cent of ferric oxide, it appears 
that, without some further process of purification, the Canadian prod- 
uct can not compete with the purified bauxite mainly employed, and 
whether such process would be commercially practicable is doubtful. 

INDIA. 

An important account of the occurrence of corundum at various 
localities in the peninsula of India has lately been published by the 
Indian government as one of the issues of its geological survey. 1 The 
special treatment of corundum is by Mr. T. H. Holland, deputy super- 
intendent of the survey. After a general introduction regarding the 
interest that attaches to corundum, especially as a gem stone, and a 
brief historical account of it, a chapter is given to its mineralogical 
character, its crystallography, the variations in hardness and density 
between some of its varieties, its color and optical phenomena, its 
chemical constitution and alterations, its occurrence with iron in the 
form of emery, the processes and prospects for its artificial produc- 
tion, etc. The next chapter considers in some detail its geological rela- 
tions, comparing the Indian occurrences with those of other regions, 
especially Burma and the United States. Mr. Holland notes the fact 
that it is only recently that corundum has been found im situ, save in a 
very few localities, but that now enough occurrences of this nature are 
known to enable us to draw fairly definite conclusions. These seem to 
show that corundum is properly and frequently an authogenic (or idio- 
morphic) mineral of igneous rocks — pure alumina separating early from 
a cooling magma, together with other similar oxides present in excess. 
in a manner perfectly natural and exactly reproduced artificially by 
Morozewicz. The frequency of the occurrence of alumina in com 
binations and the rarity, until recently, of its occurrence pure, have 
led to the prevailing idea that corundum has been derived from alumi- 

'A Manual of the Geology of India; Economic Geology, by the late Prof. X. Ball. C B., LL. D., 
F. R. S.; Second Edition. Revised in Parts; Part 1, Corundum, by T. H. Holland, A. R. C. S., F. G. S., 
Deputy Superintendent Geological Survey of India. Calcutta, 1898. 



28 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

nous silicates by contact agency and other forms of local alteration. 
This view Mr. Holland believes to be true in some eases, perhaps fre- 
quently, but it does not countervail the clear evidence for his general 
argument. As an instance of such processes he notes an occurrence 
of corundum in the Coimbatore district of Madras, where it is quite 
abundant in a coarsely crystallized red feldspar forming- veins of 
instrusion in elseolite-syenite. The crystals are evidently authogenie 
in the feldspar and are similar in form to those obtained by Moroze- 
wicz, but they are confined to the portions of the veins adjacent to the 
elseolite rock, which contains an excess of alumina. Here is plainly 
seen the influence of contact. 1 The views of Mr. Judd, also on the 
secondary origin of the Burma rubies, described in this report, 2 are 
recognized as probably correct. But Mr. Holland regards these cases. 
and others like them, as of exceptional character. 

The principal occurrences of corundum in India are of two kinds — ■ 
(1) in association with basic rocks; (2) in association with acidic rocks. 
Both types are well represented. In the former, however, pegmatite 
intrusions have usually been found in the vicinity. 

Corundum associated with J»isi,- rocks.— -I'nder the first head the 
basic rocks carrying corundum are largely composed of pyroxene 
associated with some one of the spinelloid group, and, according to 
the character of these minerals, three subdivisions arc noted, viz: 

(A) Ferruginous; the pyroxene being the highly ferriferous enstatite 
(or hypersthene) and the spinel either hercynite (FeO, A1,0 3 ) or the 
latter mingled with magnetite (FeO, Fe 3 3 ). Dmenite (FeTi 2 3 ) may 
in these cases replace corundum (Al 2 O s ). 

(B) Ferromagnesian; with the pyroxene a less ferriferous enstatite 
and the spinelloid. pleonaste (MgFeO, Al,0 3 ). 

(C) Magnesian. Hereiron is very sparingly present, and the spinel- 
loid is true ruby spinel (MgO, A1 2 3 ). 

The isomorphous iron and magnesian protoxides replace one 
another by insensible gradations, so that the rocks in some places 
combine or mingle the characters of the above-described groups. 

The first and second of these associations (A and B) are described 
as found thus partly combined in the Mysore State, and are compared 
with the rocks carrying magnetite and emery in the Cortlandt series 
of New York and with similar rocks in Saxony. In Mysore the 
pyroxenic rock forms a hill adjoining an intrusion of olivine-bearing 
rock (peridotite) partly serpentinized, and consists largely of hypers- 
thene. with fibrolite, and a green spinel containing much minute 
magnetite The whole association is closely like that of the emery 
beds of the Cortlandt series described by the late Prof. G. H. Wil- 

1 These accounts <>t" the occurrence and association of the corundum are very interesting, from 
their close resemblance to those in the i >ntario and California localities described above. 
^Seventeenth Ann Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, Part in Continued), p. 906. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 29 

liams, in which he noted a similar .spinel intermediate between pleo- 
naste and hercynite, while the hercynite of the original locals in the 
Bohmerwald, whence it was named, has a similar association with 
corundum. Fibrolite, too, is present at all three of these widely 
separated points. 

The late Dr. F. A. Genth described specimens of a pleonaste-her- 
cynite spinel from India, pseudomorphous after corundum; and Mr. 
Holland compares these, with large, platy crystals of green spinel 
found by him in the Coimbatore district of Madras, and. with others 
from the Salem district, having pink corundum cores. 

Mr. Holland also refers to the extensive " charnockite series" of 
southern India — largely pyroxene-bearing granulites in which hypers- 
thene is constantly present. These are associated with the Mysore 
corundum, and are closely allied to the rocks yielding emery in the 
Cortlandt series, and also to the pyroxene-granulites of Saxony and 
the Bohmerwald. 

The Burman ruby occurrences are taken as an illustration of the 
third association (C). Here pyroxenic rocks again appear: hut the 
rubies themselves were traced by Mr. C. Barrington Brown and Prof. 
John W. Judd 1 to crystalline limestones intercalated with gneisses. 
These limestones are at times dolomitic (magnesian), and the associated 
spinel is the magnesia-alumina variety, ruby spinel. Stress is laid on 
the fact that these limestones are connected with pegmatite, which is 
"a constant feature also in the Madras corundum deposits,' 1 and with 
pyroxene-granulites similar to the charnockite series in Madras, and 
marked by a species very near to hypersthene. Just what is the manner 
of association of these pegmatites and granulites with the limestone 
beds is not stated. Professor Judd's views are cited with acceptance as 
to the origin of the limestones from scapolites. formed by " werneritiza- 
tion" from basic plagioclase feldspars, as being derived from originally 
igneous rocks. It is to be noted, however, that the corundum in these 
extremely altered rocks is, on Professor Judd*s theory, a highly sec- 
ondary product; while Mr. Holland proceeds to compare the Burman 
occurrence with that of the Salem district of Madras — the first noted 
discovery of the mineral hi situ, which furnished the material used by 
Count Bournon in his celebrated memoir. It is here found in a gneiss 
largely composed of anorthite (indianite), and the mode of occurrence 
and associated minerals have lately been minutely studied by Lacroix, 
who also finds similar associations in a rock from Ceylon, where lime- 
stones and pyroxenic rocks again appear and where precious corundum 
is frequent. "Ceylon," remarks Mr. Holland, "is geologically a eon 
tinuation of the Madras Presidency." 

Graphite appears freely in the Burman limestones, and has been 
regarded as proof of their organic origin, as against Professor Judd's 

Seventeenth Ann. Rept.U. S. Geol. Survey, Part III (Continued), p. 905. 



30 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

theory. Mr. Holland, however, reports rinding it in pyroxene- 
granulite and even in elseolite-syenite, at localities in Madras. 

The remarkable purple corundum of South Rewah is placed pro- 
visionally among the basic occurrences, though the relations of the 
rocks are not yet fully understood. It is associated with chrome- 
spinel and a chromiferous mica, together with several other minerals. 
notably euphyllite. 

( brundwm associated with (iridic rocks.— The most important occur- 
rence of corundum in association with acidic rocks is that of the 
Kashmir sapphires, which are found in granite. The country ruck is 
a schistose gneiss, with white feldspar, black mica, and garnets, and at 
one point interstratified with siliceous limestone and anthophyllite 
(kupfferite). Coarse pegmatite travei"ses the schists in veins, carrying 
tourmaline, euclase, kyanite, sapphire, and various other minerals. 

Another marked occurrence is that of a vein or bed of blue corun- 
dum, with kyanite and damourite, in a coarse-grained quartz rock 
full of tourmaline and traversed by pegmatite veins, at Balarampur, 
Manbhum district, Bengal. This mica-corundum vein lies at the junc- 
tion between a body of metamorphic and •"transition" rocks. The 
corundum crystals, which vary greatly in size and have usually a zoned 
or banded structure of blue and white, lie inclosed in large, irregular 
crystals of light-blue kyanite, from which they are often separated by 
a thin layer of damourite. This latter at times passes insensibly into 
the surrounding kyanite, showing an origin by alteration therefrom; 
but the corundum crystals are sharp and distinct, and give no sugges- 
tion of being cores or residual portions of larger masses that have 
altered into kyanite, as Dr. Genth held in many cases. Mr. Holland 
compares Dr. Genth's account of blue corundum with kyanite. mica, 
and andalusite from Patrick County, Virginia: and though the asso- 
ciated minerals ami rocks are closely similar, he can find not only no 
indication of the origin of the Bengal kyanite from the corundum, 
but much evidence against it. lie regards the sharp, clear corundum 
crystals as idiomorphic, and the kyanite as formed around them and 
afterwards partly altered to the damourite. the excess of simple base 
separating first, the remainder afterwards uniting with silica. 

A further occurrence in association with acidic rocks is that in a 
group of localities in the Salem district of Madras termed the Papara- 
patti area. Here the corundum is scattered through large lenticular 
masses of orthoclase occurring in lines parallel to the strike (NE.- 
S\Y.) of gneissic portions of the charnockite series, traversed by veins 
of granite (pegmatite). The relations of these rocks have not been 
fully worked out, as Mr. Holland says, and, indeed, there appear to 
be some discrepancies between the accounts of them given in the 
chapter already referred to and in the one following. In the leuticles 



PRECIOUS STONES. 31 

of red to flesh-colored orthoclase are found, besides the corundum, 
sillimanite (fibrolite), rutile, green and black spinels, and biotite, 
which last is markedly peripheral. Minute corundums occur through- 
out, as well as the large crystals; but it is interesting to note that 
an iiuid the latter the former have disappeared and the feldspar is 
pure, so that every large crystal is surrounded by a shell or '■court" 
of pink, sometimes white, orthoclase. free from corundum inclusions, 
from one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch in thickness, which remains 
when the crystal is broken out. The same or a similar process has 
occurred at other localities also ; thus in the Sithampimdi area, in the 
Salem district, referred to above as the anorthite (indianite) occur- 
rence, the pale-colored corundum crystals and irregularly shaped pieces 
scattered through the anorthite-gneiss are usually enveloped in a calcite 
shell of about the same thickness. 'Phis would seem. to be derived, as 
Professor Judd thinks the Burman limestones have been, by alteration 
from anorthite. for the reason that adjacent to them in other portions 
of the rock are found small red corundums with a shell of anorthite 
partly changed into calcite. 

The whole chapter, while a very interesting and important contri- 
bution to our knowledge, gives the impression that more detailed 
examination is needed, and extensive correlation of the varied modes 
of occurrence of corundum now known, ere a full understanding can 
be reached as to the development of this remarkable mineral. Very 
rapid progress has been made in this direction within recent years, 
with the general result of proving its authogenic origin in igneous 
rocks of various kinds. As to its origin by processes of alteration, as 
held by Professor Judd for that of Burma, the facts just alluded to in 
the Sithampundi area in Madras may indicate a different aspect, though 
Mr. Holland does not refer to this. The Canadian occurrences pre- 
sent, or at least suggest, close relationships with those of Coimbatore, 
and perhaps with those of Paparapatti. 

The next chapter of the paper, which is much the longest, is on the 
geographic distribution of corundum in both the Indian peninsulas, 
Ceylon not being included in this report, which is chiefly confined to 
Purina. .Madras, and Mysore, the other localities, in many parts of 
India, being either little worked or, as in some cases, little known. 
It is impossible in a brief review like this to attempt any analysis 
of the chapter; the main points have been already noted in these 
reports. 1 also in the Burma report of Messrs. Brown and Judd. All 
that is known of the distribution of corundum in India is given, and 
the account is by far the most complete that has ever appeared. 

Chapter V of the paper is on '•the uses of corundum and its pre- 
cious varieties.*' So far as concerns the possible employment of 
corundum as an ore of aluminum, Mr. Holland thinks that its value 



•Seventeenth Ann. Eept. U.S.Geol. Survey, Pari III (Continued), p. 905. 



;5'J MINERAL RESOURCES. 

as an abrasive will prevent such use, at least until the present supply 
of softer hydrated oxides shall fail. This subject has been referred 
(d, however, in recent reports of (his bureau, in connection with the 
Canadian corunduiri on the one band and the rapidly growing manu- 
facture of the new carbide abrasives on the other. 

The subject of "effective hardness" is next considered, and the dif- 
ference between mineralogical hardness and abrasive power noted, in 
(he case of corundum, sapphire is the hardest form, breaking with a 
sharp, conchoidal fracture, while ruby crystals, and still more the ordi- 
nary forms, cleave readily along what are not really cleavage planes, 
hut parting planes upon which softer secondary products have devel- 
oped, llotli the manner of breakage and the admixture, even in small 
quantities, of these decomposed products tend to lower the abrasive 
power. Emery, which contains a large proportion of magnetite, is 
nevertheless often superior t<> crushed corundum, a fad long ago 
noted by Mr. T. Dunkin Pa ret in the manufacture of emery wheels 
at Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, from the fad that its corundum is of 
the sapphire variety, either in minute crystals or sharp fragments; so 
that unless the magnetite be in too great proportion its effective hard- 
ness is higher. The process of determining this hardness by Prof. 
.1. Lawrence Smith's method is there described in detail, hut a later 
and fuller discussion of this whole subject has been given by Prof. 
W. II. Kinerson.au abstract of which appears elsewhere in the present 
report. 

The preparation of emery for the market, its use in various appli- 
cations, etc.. are next described, and some interesting accounts are 
givenof native Indian lapidary work. Besides the " begri," or ordinary 
lapidary, there are special borers or drillers (hidhiya). who perforate 
hard gems with a steel gimlet rotated with a how and a leather strap, 
usine- corundum dust with a drip of water. Other processes of like 
character are described. It is interesting to learn that the ancient 
method of engraving seals, etc., with corundum is even yet in use in 
Liuckhow and Kashmir; but the process is probably somewhat ditl'er- 
ent. Corundum dust and oil are used, and the instrument is a steel 
Spindle tipped with a small copper disk and revolved against the face 

of the stone. 

Emery wheels, their varieties and uses, arc quite fully described; 
also their economy of time and labor as compared with grindstones, 
which they are fast replacing for many purposes. 

The 'remainder of the lifth chapter is occupied with a discussion of 
Corundum as a gem. References are made to the folk lore of gem 
corundum in India, many of which appear in the writings of its classical 
authors, as to the power belonging to rubies and sapphires for good or 
ill fortune in all sorts of relations. Both these gems are divided by 
Hindoo authorities into four castes or' grades— Brahman, Kshatriya, 



PRECIOUS STONES. 33 

Vaishya, and Shudra, in descending order — according to their quality. 
The native cutting, still practiced, although considerably diminished 
by the superior methods of European work, is described on the author- 
ity of Mr. W. Hoey, who made a report some years since upon the 
industries of northern India. Three principal styles are employed: 
taura, flat on both sides, with beveled edges; mathaila, flat below and 
convex above (our cabochon), and tilakridar, flat below and facetted 
above. Various details are also given as to prices paid native cutters, 
etc. 

The value of cut stones is last treated, and the enormous increase in 
the value of rubies as they increase in size, when of fine quality, and 
the slight increase in the value of sapphires as they increase in size, 
are shown. Rubies of more than -1 carats are so rare as to have no 
regular estimable value. The largest ever brought to Europe were 
two Burman rubies, imported in 1875, weighing, respectively, 37 and 
■17 carats, reduced by cutting to 32 T 6 ff and 38 T \, and said to have been 
sold for £10,000 and £20,000, respectively; but it is not known who 
the purchasers were. Many of the finest rubies are pierced — an evi- 
dence of Indian origin. Of these the most noted is that now in the 
crown of Victoria, Empress of India. It is said to have been given 
to Edward, the Black Prince, in 1367, by Don Pedro, King of Castile, 
and to have been worn by Henry V. in his helmet, at Agincourt. 
This, however, is believed to be a spinel. 

The sixth chapter consists of an index to the literature on Indian 
corundum, both general and classified by provinces. This is followed 
by an extended glossary of native terms used in connection with the 
various kinds of corundum, their uses, methods of cutting, etc. The 
report concludes with a detailed index of localities. 

ABRASIVE EFFICIENCY OF CORUNDUM. 

An extended paper on this subject was read before the American 
Institute of Mining Engineers at its meeting in February. 1899, by 
Prof. W. H. Emerson, of the Georgia School of Technology, Atlanta, 
Georgia, and published in the transactions of that society. The paper 
is divided into two parts: (1) The relation between the effective hard- 
ness of corundum and its content of water; (2) Smith's test as a means 
of determining the abrasive efficiency of corundum. The opinion has 
generally prevailed among students of the subject, several of whom 
are cited, that the differences in hardness noted among specimens of 
corundum have some relation to the amount of water present in the 
mineral, and that a large proportion of water — any amount much 
above 1 per cent — lowers the effective hardness. 

An elaborate investigation undertaken by Professor Emerson to 
determine this point is described in detail in the first part of the 

2646 3 



34 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

paper. The methods employed for determining the amount of water 
in a Dumber of samples, and for its complete separation and the tests 
for hardness before and after, are minutely described. The results 
arc curiously negative, and show that no fixed relation can be traced 
between the effective hardness and the percentage of water, though 
Professor Emerson believes it probable that a very large water con- 
tent over ■_' per cent — would impair the effective hardness. 

The remainder of the paper is given to a very exhaustive series of 
experiments as to the validity of the usual tests for the abrasive effi- 
ciency of corundum. The method almost exclusively pursued, known 
as Smith's test, 1 consists in grinding a weighed amount of corundum 
to an impalpable powder on a weighed glass plate, and determining 
the abrasive efficiency by the loss of weight of the plate. The valid- 
ity of this process has been questioned in its application to emery 
and corundum wheels, where the abrading material is fixed and not 
loose; and Professor Emerson instituted these experiments to obtain 
some definite results. The apparatus which he devised for this pur- 
pose is minutely described, as are also various methods for prepar- 
ing test pieces of corundum fixed in a cement. The substance to lie 
abraded was a steel plate, and the most satisfactory cement was found 
to be water glass, with a strong solution of mixed chlorides of calcium, 
magnesium, and iron, the proportions being given in detail. A large 
number of tests were then made, for longer and shorter periods, and 
with all manner of precautions. The results were somewhat incon- 
clusive, with irregularities and exceptions not easily explained. It 
was shown, however, that there is little or no relation between the 
abrasive efficiency of corundums and their composition, or their water 
content, and that the Smith process is not applicable to corundum in 
a fixed state, however valuable it may be when the mineral is used in 
a powder. 

SAPPHIRES IN MONTANA. 

For some years 2 sapphires have been found in the float material on 
Rock Creek, Granite County. Montana, 35 miles northeast of Phillips- 
burg, at the base of high mountain placers which were being pros- 
pected for gold. In the first material found the prevalent color was 
the usual Montana green, interspersed with a number of stones of 
fancy colors. This suggested the idea that if the source could be 
traced, beds of separate colors might possibly be found. A search 
was decided upon, and Mr. I). Jankower. who made the exploration, 
concluded that the source could not be many miles away, because of 
the high hills surrounding the placers where the float prevailed. He 

'Described by Prof. J. Lawrence Smith in the American .Tonrmil of Science and Arts, November 

- See previous issues Oi Mineral Resources of the United Slulrv. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 35 

also found whence the ordinary waterworn float material is obtained. 
From the fact that the matrix still partly adheres to most of the stones 
found high up the creek, it is evident that the original source is but a 
short distance away. It is proposed to explore farther in that direc- 
tion during the coming season. 

The prevailing forms of sapphire are tabular hexagonal prisms and 
small elongated hexagonal prisms with pitted surface, which are 
remarkable for small colored spots, which, when properh- cut, change 
the entire stone to yellow or brown. The red stones found are pale 
but pronounced rubies, many of them intensely brilliant; the yellows, 
many tints of brown, blue-greens, reds, and other colors, are distinct 
from those found at any other locality, and all of the colors are ren- 
dered more brilliant by artificial light. 

EMERALD. 

As was predicted in our last report, there was an advance in the price 
of emeralds and pearls during 1899. The demand for emeralds was so 
great that the United States consul at Bogota, Colombia, Mr. McNally, 
states that at least seventy-live foreign dealers visited that city at one 
time; that all business in regard to emeralds came to a standstill; that 
owners of the shops exposed their wares in the street, accepting bid 
after bid from the vender until a sale was made, at prices frequently 
ranging over a hundred per cent beyond those ever paid before; and 
as the principal mines were virtually at a standstill, there is apparently 
an absolute dearth of emeralds in Colombia, as those of every quality, 
even to the very poorest, were purchased. 

The excitement has also led to illegitimate attempts to obtain emer- 
alds in various ways, and it is reported that church treasures, statues 
of saints, etc., have been robbed of emeralds with which they were set. 
In the vicinity of the Muzo mine some of the natives have turned their 
chickens loose around the workings, with the intention of killing them 
in due time, in the hope of finding small emeralds in their crops; and 
other surreptitious devices have been employed for the same end. 

The demand for and scarcity of emeralds has resulted in a search for 
them in every part of the world, including exploration and opening of 
the old mines at Habachthal, in the Tyrol; the opening of the mine at 
Takawaja, in the Ural Mountains, and of the Egyptian mines mentioned 
iu the last report, as well as further search at the Emmaville mines. 
New South Wales. 

The high price of emeralds and the advance of more than 100 per 
cent caused many to dispose of old stones of fine color, great purity, 
and large size, so that, although emeralds have never commanded so 
great a price as during the year 1899, there never has been a time when 
it was possible to obtain finer stones. 



36 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

Dr. George P. Merrill describes the emerald mine situated on Brush 
Creek Mountain, at Enstatoe, Grassy Creek Township, Mitchell 
County. 1 The country rock is a very evenly banded micaceous gneiss 
and mica-(biotite-)schist, dipping easterly at a high angle. The vein, 
so far as could be observed, is about 10 feet in width, and is less 
sharply differentiated from the country rock than are the veins in the 
mica mines near Bakersville. The vein material is quartz and feldspar 
(albite), with irregularly disseminated black tourmalines, black mica, 
garnets, titanic iron, and beryls. A large majority of the beryls are of 
the common opaque type, and of a yellowish color, the green varieties 
(emeralds) occurring very sporadically, sometimes in mica rock, some- 
times in the vein. Dr. Merrill agrees with Dr. J. H. Pratt 8 in regard- 
ing them as occurring for the most part along or near the contact of 
the vein and country rock. The crystals are of good color, but mostly 
small, those clear enough for facetted stones being, so far as observed, 
rarely over 3 or 4 mm. in diameter. 

The extent of the vein is somewhat limited, being cut oil l>v an 
intrusion of a fine-grained mica-granite. It is evident that this vein 
is quite distinct from the ordinary mica-(muscovite-)bearing veins of 
the county. It is not merely quite bare of muscovite, but differs 
also in the character of its other accessory minerals, and apparently cuts 
across the country rock at a low angle, instead of running parallel 
thereto, as do the mica veins. 

BERYL AND AQUAMARINE. 

In North Carolina aquamarine mines are situated on the Wiseman 
property near Spruce Pine. 3 These veins, like the mica veins, run 
with the gneiss, and carry also muscovite. though not enough to be of 
economic importance. The beryls are of a tine aquamarine tint, and 
some weighing 20 carats have been found. Honey -yellow beryls are 
common, fragments sufficiently clear for cutting having been found, 
but they are not abundant. As a source of aquamarine this locality 
is very promising. 

The Wilson mine at Merrvall, Connecticut, has been considerably 
enlarged during the last year, and some excellent crystals of beryl 
and golden beryl have been reported by Prof. W. H. Hobbs. Some 
very hue garnets also appear in the same pegmatite vein. 

The old beryl locality at Grafton, New Hampshire, was partly devel- 

1 Note on the Gem Mines of Mitchell County, North Carolina; read before the Geological Society of 
Washington, January, 1899. 
".lour. Elisha MitchellSci. Soe., Vol. XIV. pt. '2. 1897, p. 80. 
"Note on the Gem Mines of Mitchell County, North Carolina, by l>r. George V. Merrill. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 37 

oped in the summer of 1899. As there were indications of mica, beryl, 
and garnet, it was decided to develop the locality further in the summer 
of 1900. 

TOURMALINE. 

The article by Messrs. Penfield and Foote, describing their investiga- 
tions and conclusions as to the theoretical constitution of the tourma- 
lines, has been followed by one upon the same subject by Prof. F. W. 
Clarke, of the United States Geological Survey. 1 In this paper the 
results < >f Messrs. Penlield and Foote are in part accepted, and are cor- 
related with previous determinations by Professor Clarke, which have 
lately been revised and restated. The former have considered all tour- 
malines as derived from an alumino-boro-silicic acid (H u Al 3 B.,Si 4 0, 1 ) 
with a valency of 9, two of the hydrogens being united to the boron 
as hydroxyls. Professor Clarke reaches a similar result, but gives 
the acid the formula — H 14 Al 5 B 3 Si 6 31 . These expressions he reduces 
to a common basis of 6 atoms of silicon; and then, replacing the alumi- 
num by hydrogen, to show the ultimate acids, they become as follows: 

Penfield and Foote, H 30 B 3 Si 6 O 31 )< 
Clarke. H 29 B 3 Si 6 31 

This is an approximation so close as to fall within the probable 
uncertainties of analysis. He presents a series of very careful analy- 
ses, computed from the article of Biggs, that lie actually between 
these limits of variation. 

There are excellent analyses, however, which fail to conform alto- 
'gether to this scheme, beyond any probable allowance for either errors 
or impurities. The formula proposed, therefore, he feels can hardly 
be deemed final without further qualification. 

Professor Clarke states the conditions requisite for a satisfactory 
constitutional formula as follows: It must (1) adequately express the 
constitution of the body, including all variations; (2) it must be appli- 
cable to the full discussion of analyses and the distinct separation and 
expression of commingled isomorphous salts; and (3) it must indicate 
the relations of the species to allied minerals and those into which it is 
liable to alter. This third condition is equally important with the 
others. 

Along this line the article proceeds to consider the close relation 
seen to exist between the tourmalines and the micas, both in associa- 
tion and in alteration, as well as iD the mingling of isomorphous mole 
cules. Thus, we find a lithia group, composed of both micas and 
tourmalines, a muscovite-biotite group, with iron tourmalines, and a 
magnesian group of tourmalines with phlogopite, in notable associa- 
tion and parallelism. The general formulas of these mica types are 

■Am. Jour. Sci., August, 1899, Vol. VIII. pp. 111-121. 



38 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

well known and generally accepted; and Professor Clarke maintains 
that the salts of the tourmaline acid are probably correlated to them, 
and introduces a somewhat detailed discussion, with structural for- 
mulas, to expound this view. As a result, he reaches a statement for 
the tourmaline acid, in linear form, as follows: 

Al,(SiO<),(B0 8 ), . B0 8 H 2 . H 12 . 

In this form it is applicable to a satisfactory discussion of the 
numerous analyses, the hydrogens being partly or wholly replaced by 
metals in various groupings. Intermixtures of such molecules in dif- 
ferent proportions are then considered and found to yield results in 
which theory and analysis very closely agree. 

With great skill and ingenuity this method is illustrated in a suc- 
cession of cases. A certain number of molecules (usually three) being 
taken as yielding a mixture approximating to a given tourmaline, the 
result is calculated and placed side by side with one or more of the 
best analyses of that variety, with very striking agreement. As this 
process is repeated, in successive instances, the correctness of the 
theory is forcibly impressed upon the reader. 

In the light of these evidences, Professor Clarke then returns to the 
theoretical grouping of the atoms in the molecules, and gives three 
structural formulas for the tourmaline types before referred to in con- 
nection with the three mica types. "These formulae," he says, "cover 
all of the established variations in the composition of tourmaline; they 
render the various replacements of isomorphous admixtures intelligible, 
and they indicate the directions into which the species commonly alter.'' 

Some partial exceptions, some peculiar corollaries, and some addi- 
tional suggestions are noted at the close, but in the main the results 
appear highly satisfactory, and mark an important advance upon our 
previous understanding of this remarkable group. Professor Clarke 
feels, however, that future investigations may possibly modify our 
views, and prove the tourmalines to be derived from some complex 
boro-silicic acid yet unknown, as well as some other species, like axin- 
ite, danburite, datolite, etc. "A series of boro-silicic acids is theo- 
reticallv conceivable, and until this question has been considered, the 
constitution of all the minerals above mentioned must be regarded as 
unsettled." 

At Pala, California, Mr. Charles Russell Orcutt lias found white 
tourmaline (achroite), red tourmaline (rubellitc) in lepidolite, blue 
tourmaline (indicolite), and green tourmaline (Brazilian emerald) in 
crystals of but slight gem value. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 39 

ROCK CRYSTAL. 

Rock crystal in largo transparent masses was found by Mr. W. D. 
Wood in the vicinity of Bay City, Oregon. 

Rock crystal, in simple crystals and in groups and geodes, fairly 
abundant at various gold mines at Granite Basin, often of some size 
and beauty, is reported by Mr. J. A. Edman, Plumas County, California. 

AMETHYST. 

Mr. T. A. Heistand notes the occurrence of amethyst in fine speci- 
meus at Cripple Creek, Colorado. 

Amethyst is reported by Mr. A. C. Bates, from Divide, 25 miles 
from Butte, Montana. The purple color, though remarkable for 
brilliancy and richness, is too unevenly distributed in the specimens 
to furnish cut gems of more than a carat. 

A beautiful crystal 2£ by If inches, of pale color, resembling those 
from Rabun County, Georgia, was obtained in a coarse granitic rock 
by Mrs. Cora L. Cole, near Adair, Indian Territory. 

Some beautiful specimens of amethyst of a deep rich purple color, 
similar to those from Maine and from the Ural Mountains, were found 
in the Yukon district, Alaska, by Mr. Alfred G. Cunningham, and 
also in the American territory not far distant from Dawson City, 
Alaska. 

Blue quartz of a beautiful tint, and worthy to be called an orna- 
mental stone, is a constant constituent of the crystalline rocks of 
southeastern Pennsylvania. Good specimens are obtainable along the 
Pennypack Creek and near Neshaminy, Bucks County, and pebbles 
of a beautiful blue have also been found in the drift at Gibson Point, 
on the Schuylkill, by Mr. S. Harbest Hamilton. 

OPAL, (PRECIOUS). 

An interesting form of precious opal, but in grains too small for 
cutting, was found by Mr. Ira E. Moore, of Hornbeck, Louisiana, 
consisting of a mass of sandstone containing large seams of grains 
from 0.5 mm. to 3 mm. across, cemented by precious opal hydrophane, 
giving the mass the effect of a beautiful piece of opal, although friable 
and breaking into minute grains of no value. The origin was probably 
the same as the very interesting pseudomorphs of wood, shells, bones, 
etc, at White Cliffs, New South Wales, where a fossiliferous sandstone 
lias had all its fossils altered by the infiltration of heated siliceous or 
volcanic waters. 



40 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

SEMIOPAL. 

A semi opal, white with a blue tint on a jaspery-colored rock, was 
found by Mr. J. M. McCollum near Safford, Arizona. 

Mr. George W. Ostrander mentions the rinding of semiopal, banded 
and mottled brown and gray, in great quantity at Lovelock, Nevada. 
with dendrites in the fissures, in a continuous vein of some length. 

Mr. L. S. Getchell reports the finding of semiopal in small rounded 
nodules with a white coat of cacholong, at Pony. Madison County, 
Wisconsin. 

Giovanni D'Achiardi, professor of mineralogy. University of Pisa, 
publishes an exhaustive study on the specific gravity, composition, etc. , 
of the various forms of opal-like minerals found in Tuscany, which he 
classifies as the common opals, simple opals, white, milky opaque, black, 
resinous gray, rose gray, and in San Piero in Campo, island of Elba, 
giving analyses from a large series of experiments as to specific 
gravity, absorption of water, and other properties. 1 

GOLDEN OPAL. 

Under the name of golden opal a ready market has been found for 
the tireless, reddish, yellow, and brown opal masses that are found with 
the rich fire opals at Queretaro, Mexico. This material formerly sold 
for only a few cents. Now it is facetted and sold for several dollars 
a carat, although the substance does not possess as much hardness as 
glass, and therefore has very little durability for wear. 

CHALCEDONY. 

Mr. J. A. Edman, of Meadow Valley, California, reports chalcedony 
pebbles of various colors on Upper Spanish Creek, above Green Flat, 
also a profusion of chalcedony of similarly varied colors and semiopal 
at an old extinct crater in the El Paso Range of Kern County, about 
14 miles east of the Freeman post-office. Nearly a half bushel of 
nodules of a white chalcedony, translucent and almost transparent, 
with an opaline tint, measuring from i to 1 inch across, were found 
by Mr. Charles Russel Orcutt very near San Diego, California. 

AGATE. 

A blue chalcedony (saphirine) of some beauty was found by Mr. 
James E. Todd in the Bad Lands southeast of the Black Hills, near 
Hot Springs, South Dakota. 

Dr. Charles Palache, in the summer of 1899, while on the Harriman 

1 Estratto dagli delle Societa Toseana di Scieuze Naturali, Pisa, Proc. verb., Vol. XI, pp. 1-25. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 41 

Expedition, found abundance of agate (carnelian, chalcedony) beach 
pebbles weathered out of basalt, on the shores of Popof Island, near 
the village of Sand Point, Shumagin Group, Alaska. 

SILICIFIED WOOD. 

Silicified wood occurs in the lowest member of the Newark forma- 
tion of the Pomperany Valley, Connecticut. One large trunk, owned 
at South Britain, Connecticut, is clearly agatized, and has been identi- 
fied by Prof. W. H. Hobbs. 

Silicified wood has been found at various points in the older gravel 
deposits, notably at the Bean Horn (?) hydraulic mines in Plumas 
County, California, reported by Mr. J. A. Edman. 

JASPER (BLOODSTOXE, HELIOTROPE) . 

Green, red, and red and white banded jasper have been found by 
Mr. J. A. Edman in the slates and schists west of Meadow Valley, 
Plumas County, California, also green jasper in the serpentine near 
that place. 

TURQUOISE. 

Notwithstanding the many statements which have appeared in the 
press during the last year, to the effect that a syndicate or trust was 
being formed for the control of all the turquoise properties in the 
United States, no such consolidation has taken place, and all the mines 
air still working independently. 

Prof. Erwin Hinckley Barbour, of Lincoln, Nebraska, reports the 
finding of bone turquoise (odontolite), in the form of waterworn peb- 
bles of about the size of hazelnuts, in Brown County, Nebraska. 

Another interesting occurrence was a discovery in 1899, in a rather 
unexpected place, by the F. E. Hyde Expedition, under the guidance 
of Mr. Geo. E. Pepper, anthropologist, of turquoise in the Mancos 
Canyon, forming parts of interesting mosaics, or inlays, and carvings, 
the former consisting of tadpoles of various sizes, made out of a single 
piece of turquoise from i inch to 1 inch in length, manj' of which were 
of a rich green color, while others still retained some of the original 
blue color. These were all perforated below, on a ridge projecting 
beneath the object, so that they could be attached to a garment or 
necklace. They well represent the size, type, etc., of aboriginal tur- 
quoise carving. 

Of probably even greater interest were the frogs, nearly 3 inches in 
length, made of a rich black jet, neatly carved and polished, the form 
being somewhat idealized. These had two raised eyes of turquoise 
inserted, and also a baud back of the eyes that extended two-thirds 



42 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

across the object. This band was made of turquoise, which was cut 
up broader below than above, so that the eyes could be firmly held 
without slipping into the groove, which was broad below and narrower 
above. The turquoise and jet were evidently found in the United 
Stairs, the former probably in New Mexico, the latter in Texas. 

GARNET. 

Garnet (almandite) continues to be found in choice crystals at Avon- 
dale, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Some of these crystals would 
probably cut into beautiful gems. Boothwin, Delaware County, Penn- 
sylvania, also yields some clear stones. These are reported by Mr. 
S. Harbest Hamilton, who also mentions that essonite was discovered 
recently with green fluorite at Seventieth street and Chester avenue, 
Philadelphia. Pyrope has been found during the last year, as here- 
tofore, at Green Creek, Pennsylvania. 

RHODONITE. 

Massive, light-colored rhodonite was observed in some abundance 
in a gold-bearing quartz vein at the head of Silver Bay, near Sitka, 
Baranof Island, Alaska, by Dr. Charles Palache while on the Harri- 
man expedition. 

CIIRYSOCOLLA. 

Beautiful chrysocolla, blue in color, which has been mistaken for 
turquoise, is mentioned by Mr. Roy Hopping as occurring in some 
quantity in Kern County, California. 

CATLINITE. 

Dr. W. M. Beauchamp reports catlinite as abundant in New York 
State, from Montgomery County to Buffalo, in the form of Indian orna- 
ments, it having been introduced in Indian trade a little before the 
year L700. 

AMBER. 

Prof. S. W. Williston mentions finding a number of specimens of 
amber from the Mohave Cretaceous of Kansas. The quantity is not 
great and the color very dark. The largest pieces weigh about 1 
ounce each. 

PRECIOUS STONES OF JAPAN. 

A paper by Mr. Kotora -limbo, professorof mineralogy in the Science 
College. Imperial University of Tokio, entitled Notes on the Minerals 



PRECIOUS STONES. 43 

of Japan, has appeared recently, having been published in the Journal 
of the College of Science of that institution, Vol. XI, Part III, 1899. 
In this extended article of 75 pages Professor Jimbo has brought 
together a large body of information, hitherto scattered through vari- 
ous Japanese and European publications, regarding the mineralogy of 
his country, together with much material of his own, based upon 
examination of some of the best private collections in Japan and those 
of the Science College of Tokio. 

So far as concerns precious stones, however, there is nothing of 
high importance, though most of the gem-yielding species are found. 
The clear rock crystal that has furnished the beautiful spheres so 
much valued and sought for as articles of vertu is limited in amount 
and largely exhausted. Professor Jimbo states that in Kai Province, 
although ordinary crystals 6 inches in diameter or even larger are 
found, transparent ones suitable for crystal balls are no longer procur- 
able. He describes a number of localities for crystallized quartz — 
colorless, smoky, and amethystine — and gives interesting accounts of 
parallel growths, etc., whereby two or all three of these varieties are 
developed together. Such are some crystals from Tanokamiyama, in 
Omi Province, where a smoky crystal will be surrounded by a white 
or colorless zone, and this again by an overgrowth of small gray or 
purple crystals oriented parallel to the main one, etc. 

The paper is very full in its description of ervstallographic phenomena, 
twinning*, etchings, and the like. Inclosures are treated also, and 
among them are noted tourmaline, epidote, and native sulphur, as 
well as fluid cavities, which are at times peculiarly distributed in the 
quartz crystals. 

CHALCEDONY AND AGATE. 

Chalcedony and agate are found at various places, and a compact 
green quartz (prase?) in the provinces of Izumo and Echigo. Curious 
pseudomorphs of quartz after calcite are described from Osawa, in 
Shimotsuke Province, and others from a locality in Mino Province, 
the latter in sharp-pointed rhombohedra. In the Aikawa and Arakawa 
mines occur numerous peculiar pseudomorphs of quartz after barite, 
largely in the form of hollow casts from which the barite has been 
removed. Curious top-shaped chalcedonies from Uzen and Echigo are 
described as probably pseudomorphous "after broken pieces of some 
spherical mineral aggregate with radial fibrous structure, and consist 
of two flat cones united at bases." They are i inch in diameter, and 
the apex of the cones bears either a depression or a rounded elevation. 

No mention is made of the rock in which these objects occur, and 
in the absence of information on that point, the suggestion arises 
whether they may not possibly prove to be silicified sponges. 



44 MINERAL RESOURCES. 



CORUNDUM. 

Corundum seems to occur very scantily. At Takayama, in Mino 
Province, small flat hexagonal pieces and columnar grains, blue to 
bluish-white in color and less than a centimeter in diameter, "were 
formerly collected." In sections the blue is seen to have concentric 
zones and radial stripes of white, the zones presenting different figures 
of uniaxial and biaxial interference. 

OPAL. 

Opal is mentioned as found at two or three places, but no reference 
is made to its being beautiful or valuable. Some specimens are noted 
as showing irregular, doubly refracting bands in thin sections. Hyalite 
formed in small spherules, either loose or aggregated by waters from 
hot springs, used to be found atTatevama, in Etchu. Silicified wood, 
chiefly coniferous, occurs at many points in the Cretaceous and Tertiary 
of Hokkaido, and elsewhere. 

CHRYSOBERYL. 

Chrysobery] is noted only in a single instance — a small trilling 
believed to be from Takayama. in Mino Province, in the collection of 
the Imperial geological survey. 

TOPAZ. 

Topaz receives considerable attention. There are two main locali- 
ties — Takayama. in Mino, just mentioned, and Tanokamiyama, Prov- 
ince of Omi. The characteristic features of those from the two districts 
are given in much detail, and may be summarized as follows: The 
crystals of Mino are often rounded by rolling. They vary widely in 
size, from 0.2 to 12.5 cm. in the longer basal diameter. In color they 
are of brownish and bluish tints, also sometimes colorless, occasionally 
a very rich pale green, and sometimes showing a curious division into 
sections of different colors — bluish along the uiacrodiagonal or toward 
its extremities, and brownish along the brachydiagonal or at its ends. 
Basal sections show complicated optical anomalies, somewhat different 
from those in Brazilian topazes described by Braun. 1 In form the 
crystals are often long prismatic, terminated by domes or by pyra- 
midal or basal planes. Inclosures were noted of tourmaline, cassiter- 
ite. and chlorite ('.). besides fluid and gas cavities. The Omi crystals 
are less varied in size, rarely less than 1 cm. in diameter. They are 
usually colorless, though sometimes the bluish and brownish pleoehro- 

1 Optischon Anoinalien, 1890. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 



45 



ism is found. In form they are usually short prismatic, generally ter- 
minated by domes. The inclosed minerals noted were tourmaline, 
beryl (?), and monazite. A peculiar relation is observed between the 
Omi topazes and a flesh-red potash feldspar, with apparently two gen- 
erations of crystals — an earlier one intergrown with the feldspar, and 
a later our of small, double-terminated crystals formed upon it. 

Two analyses of Omi topaz, made by Mr. Takayama, chemist to the 
Imperial geological survey, are of interest because of their low per- 
centage of silica and rather unsual amount of fluorine. 

Analyses of topaz from Omi, Japan. 



Constituent. 


I. 


ii. 


Mean. 


Sid, 


Per cent. 
31.30 
56.72 
18.36 


Per cent. 
31.95 
56.59 

18.01 


Per cent. 

31.62 

56. 65 
18.18 


AU>, 


F 


Total 


106. 38 


106. 55 


106. 45 





TOURMALINE. 

No gem tourmalines are referred to at all in Professor Jimbo's 
paper. Black ciystals are mentioned as occasionally found in pegma- 
tite at several localities, and some curious, nearly flat, rhombohedral 
forms, about 2 inches in diameter, with the prism almost wanting, at 
Goshodaira, in Shinano Province. Radiated aggregations of dark- 
brown tourmaline occur in a quartz vein in pegmatite at Obira, in 
Bungo Province, sometimes forming acicular inclusions in the quartz. 
Of interest in connection with the paper (elsewhere reviewed in this 
report) on tourmaline and its relation to the micas, by Prof. F. W. 
Clarke, is the mention of a pseudomorph of mica after tourmaline, as 
noted at Yokogawa, Province of Hitachi. 



GARNET. 

A number of varieties and localities are reported, but as no careful 
analyses have yet been made, Professor Jimbo says that the Japanese 
garnets can only be provisionally described. From his account it 
would seem that almost all the species of the garnet group must occur 
in Japan, but they are not yet identified and can not be definitely 
named. Various localities are mentioned for yellow and dark garnets, 
as well as the more common varieties, and their modes of occurrence 
and crystalline forms are specially noted. A brown-red garnet, in 
crystals and in sand, from Kongosan, in Kawachi Province, is largely 
used in Tokio as a polishing material. 



46 MINERAL RESOURCES. 

BERYL. 

This stone is reported from nearly the same localities as the topaz 
above referred to, but nothing of actual gem quality is noted. Taka- 
yania (Mino) yields some crystals, pale blue to nearly colorless, of 1 
cm. in diameter, with smoky quartz in pegmatite. Tanokamiyama 
(Omi) has furnished some crystals of larger size, up to 3 cm. in diam- 
eter and four or five times that length, transparent to translucent, of 
greenish and bluish tints. 

The general impression given by Professor Jimbo's account is that 
of interesting possibilities in the future, when careful exploitation of 
the beryl and garnet localities shall have been effected; but from the 
present data it is impossible to predict how far Japan has promise of 
becoming a gem-producing country. 



PRECIOUS STONES. 



47 



PRODUCTION. 



In the followiug table is given a statement of the production of 
precious stones : n the United States from 1896 to 1899: 

Production of precious stones in the United Stall's from 1S96 to 1S99. 



Stone. 



1896. 



Diamond 

Sapphire 

Ruby 

Topaz 

Beryl (aquamarine, etc.) 

Emerald 

Phenacite 

Tourmaline 

Peridot 

Quartz, crystal 

Smoky quartz 

Rose quartz 

Amethyst 

Prase 

Gold quartz 

Rutilated quartz 

Dumortierite in quartz 

Agate 

Moss agate 

Chrysoprase 

Silicified wood (silicified andopalized) 

Opal 

Garnet (almandite) 

Garnet (pyrope) 

Topazolite 

Amazon stone 

Oligoclase 

Moonstone 

Turquoise 

Utahlite (compact variscite) 

Chlorastrolite 

Thomsonl te 

Prehnite 

Diopside 

Epidote 

Pyrite 

Malachite 

Rutile 

Anthracite 

Catlinite (pipestone) 

Fossil coral 

Arrow points 

Total 



None. 

$10, 000 

1,000 

200 

700 

None. 

None. 

3,000 

600 

7,01X1 

2,500 

500 

500 

100 

10,000 

500 

50 

1,000 

1,000 

600 

4,000 

200 

500 

2,000 

100 

1,000 

500 

250 

40,000 

500 

500 

500 

100 

200 

250 

1,000 

None. 

100 

2,000 

3,000 

1,000 

1,000 



None. 

825, 000 

Nunc 

None. 

1,500 

25 

None. 

9,125 

500 

12,000 

1,000 

None. 

200 

None. 

5,000 

None. 

None. 

1,000 

1,000 

None. 

2,000 

200 

7,000 

2,000 

None. 

500 

25 

None. 

55,000 

100 

500 

500 

100 

100 

None. 

1,000 

None. 

800 

1,000 

2. 000 

500 

1,000 



97,850 



l:;o. 075 



None. 

$55,000 

2,000 

100 

2,200 

50 

None. 

4.000 

500 

17,000 

1,000 

100 

250 

None. 

5,000 

100 

None. 

1,000 

1,000 

100 

2,000 

200 

5,000 

2,000 

None. 

500 

10 

None. 

50,000 

100 

5,000 

1,000 

100 

None. 

None. 

1,000 

None. 

110 

1,000 

2,000 

500 

1,000 



-:;on 

68,000 

3,000 

None. 

4,000 

50 

None. 

2,000 

500 

12,000 

None. 

100 

250 

None. 

500 

50 

None. 

1,000 

1,000 

100 

3,000 

None. 

5,000 

2,000 

None. 

250 

20 

None. 

72, 000 

100 

3,000 

1,000 

50 

None. 

None. 

1,000 

250 

200 

2,000 

2,000 

50 

1,000 



160.9211 



185, 770 






3-? 



48 



MINERAL RESOURCES. 






IMPORTS. 

The following table shows the value of the diamonds and other 
precious stones imported into the United States fron n ;sOT to 1899: 

Diamonds and other precious stones imported and entered for consumption in tin I hited 
Stairs, 186? to 1899, inclusive. 



i cling— 



Diamonds. 



Glaziers'. Dust. ^ OT Set. 



t'nscl. 



Diamonds 

and other 

stones not 

set. 



Set in 
gold or 
other 
metal. 



Total. 



June 30, 1867. 
1868. 
1869. 
1870. 
1871. 
1872. 
1873. 
1874. 
1875. 
1876. 
in::. 

1879. 
1880. 
[881. 
1882. 
[883 
1884. 
1885. 
Dec. 31,1886. 
1887. 
1888. 
[889. 
1890. 
1891 . 
1892. 
1893. 
1894 
1895. 
189C 
1897. 
1898. 
1899. 



8906 
484 
445 



'-.'JUS 

11,526 

8,949 

9, 027 

10,025 

8,156 

147,227 

a 565, 623 

532,246 

357, 939 

82,081 

107, 163 

78,990 

629,576 

8,058 

2,428 



8140 
71 
17 
89, 707 
40, 424 
68, 621 
32,518 
20,678 
45, 264 
36. 409 
1S.KX9 

49,360 

51,409 

92, 853 

82, 628 

37,121 

30, 126 

32, 316 

33, 498 

29, 127 

OS, 746 

179,154 

125,688 

111, 187 

74,255 

53, 691 

135, 558 

65, 690 

167, US 

240, 665 

618,354 



$176,426 

144, 629 
211,920 
186, 404 
78,033 
63, 270 
104. 158 
129,207 
233,596 
449,513 
443, 996 
367,816 
371,679 
302,822 
262,357 
244,876 
196,294 
340,915 
(c) 



I , :;.si;, 726 
2,513,800 
4,896,324 



(d) 

8330 

6, 622 

13,888 



$2,789,924 
5,748,026 
8,795,541 



$1,317,420 

1,060.544 

1,997,282 

1,768,324 

2,349,482 

2, 939, 155 

2,917,216 

2. 158, 172 

3,234,319 

2,409,516 

2, 110, 215 

2.970,469 

3,841,335 

6, 690, 912 

8, 320, 315 

8, 377, 2(l„ 

7,598,176 

8,712,315 

5,628,916 

7,915,660 

10, 526, 99S 

10,223,630 

11,704,808 

(-12,429.395 

/12, 065, 277 

/13.845, lis 

/9, 765, 311 

/7.291.342 

/6, 330,834 

/4, 474, 311 

1,903,055 

1,650,770 

2,882.496 



$291 

1,465 

23 

1,504 

256 

2,400 

326 

114 



45 

1,734 

1,025 

538 

765 

1,307 

3,205 

? 2,801 



$1,318,617 
1,062,493 
1,997,890 
1,779,271 
2, 350, 731 
3,03 !,648 
3,134,392 
.".i 86 
3,478,757 
2,616,643 
2,235,246 
3,071,173 
3,964,920 
6,870,244 
- i 06,623 

8, 922, 771 

8,126,881 
9 L39, [60 
6,042,547 
8, 259, : 17 
[0,831,880 
10,507,658 
11,978,004 
13,105,691 
12,7 «.. «8 
14,521,851 
10, [97, i 

:. 12:, 2i i 

6,573,855 
4,618,991 
6,276,729 
10,162,941 
[7,208,531 



a Including also engravers', not set, and jewels to be used in the manufacture of watches, from 1891 
i. 1-94: from 1894 to 1896 miners' diamonds are also included, 
hiding also miners' and engravers', nut set. 
c Included with diamonds and other stones from 1891 to 1896. 
d S"t specified prior to 1897. 

. Includes stones set and not specially provided for since 1890. 
/Including rough or uncut diamonds. 
g Nui specified since 1883. 



o 












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